fU 


FIGURES  OF  THE  PAST 


Jrom  tfje  ILeabes  of  ®in  Journals. 


BY 


JOSIAH    QUINCY, 
\i 

(CLASS  OF  1821,  HARVARD  COLLEGE). 


BOSTON: 
ROBERTS      BROTHERS. 

1883. 


Copyright,  1883, 
BY  J.   P.  QUINCY. 


FOURTH   EDITION. 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS! 
JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


INTRODUCTION. 


"XJOT  long  ago  I  received  an  application  from  a 
^  New  York  editor  to  furnish  a  series  of  papers 
upon  former  men  and  things.  For  nearly  sixty-four 
years  it  has  been  my  habit  to  keep  journals ;  and  it 
was  suggested  that  extracts  from  these  records,  or  the 
reminiscences  they  awakened,  would  be  acceptable  to 
the  public.  My  impulse  was  promptly  to  decline 
the  proposition.  My  authorship  had  been  limited  to 
railroad  reports,  occasional  speeches,  and  pamphlets 
upon  public  measures  ;  and,  weighted  with  nearly  four 
score  years,  I  could  not  think  of  entering  the  lists  of 
general  letters.  I  was  about  to  succumb  to  this  em 
barrassment  when  a  friend,  who  had  read  my  journals 
with  interest,  offered  me  his  most  valuable  aid  in 
what  may  be  called  the  literary  responsibilities  of  the 
undertaking.  My  narratives  have  gained  in  grace  of 
expression  as  they  passed  beneath  the  correcting  pen 
of  my  obliging  critic,  and  I  am  confident  that  a  stern 
exercise  of  his  right  of  curtailing  reflections  and 

284069 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

omitting  incidents  has  been  no  less  for  the  reader's 
advantage.  The  first  paper,  as  originally  published, 
contained  an  explicit  avowal  of  this  indebtedness ; 
and  it  is  right  that  I  should  repeat  it  still  more  em 
phatically  in  allowing  the  series  to  be  put  in  a  per 
manent  form. 

It  may  be  mentioned  that  William  0.  McDowell, 
the  proprietor  of  "  Thoughts  and  Events,"  was  the  only 
begetter  of  these  narratives,  and  that  upon  the  dis 
continuance  of  his  journal  they  were  fortunate  enough 
to  receive  the  hospitality  of  the  "  Independent." 

It  has  been  my  purpose  that  the  papers  should 
convey  the  contemporary  impressions  made  by  events 
and  persons  they  describe,  and  that  all  imperfect 
memories  or  unauthenticated  anecdotes  should  be 
distinctly  so  designated. 


THE  preceding  Introduction  was  written  by  Mr.  Quincy  a 
few  months  before  his  death,  and  was  left  with  the  direction 
that  it  should  be  prefixed  to  the  collection  of  these  papers 
which  Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers  had  desired  to  issue.  A 
few  omissions,'  made  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  have  been  re 
stored  in  the  present  publication.  The  college  class  of  the 
author  is  given  on  the  titlepage  to  distinguish  him  from 
others  of  his  family  who  have  borne  the  same  name. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

A  PURITAN  ACADEMY 1 

HARVARD  SIXTY  YEARS  AGO 16 

COMMENCEMENT  DAY  IN  1821 49 

REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  SECOND  PRESIDENT 58 

VISITS  TO  JOHN  ADAMS       66 

TALKS  WITH  JOHN  ADAMS ;.....     76 

THE  OLD  PRESIDENT  IN  PUBLIC 86 

"  ECLIPSE  "  AGAINST  THE  WORLD "96 

LAFAYETTE  IN  BOSTON    . 101 

LAFAYETTE  AND  COLONEL  HUGER 110 

How  COLONEL  HUGER  TOLD  THE  STORY 119 

LAFAYETTE  ON  BUNKER  HILL 127 

DANIEL  WEBSTER  AT  HOME 138 

LAFAYETTE  LEAVES  MASSACHUSETTS 147 

THE  DUKE  OF  SAXE- WEIMAR  AND  CAPTAIN  RYK   ....  157 

THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET 174 

A  JOURNEY  WITH  JUDGE  STORY 188 

FROM  NEW  YORK  TO  WASHINGTON 199 

VISITS  TO  JOHN  RANDOLPH 209 

RANDOLPH  IN  THE  SENATE 219 

COMMODORE  STOCKTON .    7 230 

THE  SUPREME  COURT  AND  THE  "  MARIANNA  FLORA  "     .     .  242 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

WASHINGTON  SOCIETY  IN  1826 254 

THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 280 

THROUGH  BALTIMORE  TO  BOSTON 291 

THE  REVEREND  CLERGY 302 

SOME  PILLARS  OF  THE  STATE 316 

Two  NOTABLE  WOMEN   ...     - 328 

SOME  RAILROAD  INCIDENTS 338 

JACKSON  IN  MASSACHUSETTS 352 

JOSEPH  SMITH  AT  NAUVOO 376 


FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 


A   PURITAN  ACADEMY. 

I  HAVE  been  asked  to  furnish  for  publication 
sketches  of  events  with  which  I  have  been  con 
nected,  and  of  distinguished  men  whom  I  have  had 
the  privilege  to  know.  It  has  been  urged  upon  me 
that  the  journals  I  have  kept  these  many  years  con 
tain  matter  of  historical  interest.  But  these  records 
were  never  intended  for  the  printer,  and  the  pic 
tures  their  pages  present  to  me  would  appear  most 
imperfectly  to  others.  My  memory  of  the  remoter 
past  is  singularly  vivid,  and  for  me  these  old  journals 
contain  far  fuller  narratives  than  any  other  reader 
could  find  written  in  them.  As  they  begin  with  my 
second  year  in  college,  I  must  rely  on  my  unaided 
recollection  for  notices  of  life  at  Phillips  Academy. 
Fortunately  the  impressions  of  youth  are  cut  so 
deeply  upon  the  brain  that  written  memoranda  are 
unnecessary  to  revive  them. 

The  Academy  at  Andover  was  the  first  school  in 
corporated  in   New  England;   the    act   bearing   the 

l 


FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

'  of  ^Octoper  4,  1780.  It  was  founded  by  Judge 
Phillips,  an  eminent  patriot  and  honored  citizen. 
Like  most  of  the  best  men  of  his  day,  he  was  a 
firm  believer  in  the  Westminster  Catechism  ;  and  he 
meant  that  posterity  should  believe  it  too,  so  far  as 
the  liberal  endowments  of  himself  and  his  family 
might  conduce  to  that  result.  The  town,  of  Ando- 
ver,  when  I  arrived  there,  nearly  seventy  years  ago, 
seemed  a  good  way  from  home.  Travelling  in  those 
days  was  slow  and  expensive.  Postage  upon  a  let 
ter  was  twenty-five  cents  for  every  sheet  it  con 
tained.  Newspapers  amounted  to  very  little,  and 
were  not  generally  read.  The  remotest  settlement 
of  Kansas  or  Nebraska  knows  far  more  of  the 
thought  and  feeling  of  the  great  world  than  Ando- 
ver  then  knew  of  Boston,  which  was  only  twenty 
miles  off.  In  the  Academy  were  two  classes  of 
scholars, — those  whose  expenses  were  paid  by  their 
parents,  and  "  charity  boys,"  as  they  were  called,  who 
were  supported  by  certain"  funds  controlled  by  a  soci 
ety  for  supplying  the  ministry  with  pious  young  can 
didates.  These  were  persons  who,  having  reached 
manhood,  had  determined  to  enter  the  sacred  profes 
sion.  They  had  served  out  an  apprenticeship  at  some 
trade  or  in  farming,  and  were  generally  uncouth  in 
their  manners  and  behavior.  We,  who  were  the  real 
boys,  never  liked  their  sanctimonious  demeanor.  We 
claimed  that  they  were  spies,  and  shrank  from  them 
with  all  the  disgust  which  their  imaginary  calling 
could  no't  fail  to  excite.  There  were,  however,  two 
marked  exceptions.  One  of  them  was  William 


A   PURITAN   ACADEMY.  3 

Person.  I  remember  once  asking  him  how  he  got 
his  name.  He  replied  with  some  cynicism,  "  Why,  I 
found  myself  in  a  tanyard,  and  nobody  could  tell  who 
I  was.  All  that  seemed  to  be  certain  was  that  I  was 
a  person,  —  and  so,  from  lack  of  any  other,  I  took 
that  name."  This  big  boy  was  very  popular,  and  we 
were  proud  of  him  as  the  finest  writer  in  the  school. 
The  pet  name,  Pelly,  by  which  he  was  universally 
known,  was  a  contraction  of  Pelliparius,  a  signa 
ture  which  he  always  affixed  to  his  compositions,' 
whether  in  prose  or  verse.  The  word  in  English 
would  be  written  "  Tanner,"  it  being  compounded  of 
pellus,  a  hide,  and  pario,  to  finish.  The  history  of  this 
interesting  young  man  was  sad  and  romantic.  He 
had  been  deserted  by  his  parents,  who  were  known 
to  be  persons  of  social  importance,  who  desired  to 
avoid  the  stigma  of  his  illegitimate  birth.  For  the 
first  years  of  his  life  he  had  been  permitted  to  attend 
a  private  school  in  Andover,  where  he  showed  re 
markable  aptitude  for  study.  But  in  1801,  when  he 
was  eight  years  old,  he  was  suddenly  taken  from 
school  and  apprenticed  *to  a  tanner  in  Providence. 
A  cruel  reason  was  given  him  for  this  step.  He  was 
told  that  he  was  altogether  too  promising,  and  that  if 
he  was  allowed  to  grow  up  an  educated  man,  he  might 
take  measures  which  would  lead  to  the  discovery  of 
his  birth.  For  thirteen  years  he  was  compelled  to 
serve  in  this  trade,  and  deprived  of  the  education  he 
so  ardently  desired.  At  the  end  of  this  time,  finding 
himself  his  own  master,  he  entered  the  Academy  at 
Andover,  —  supporting  himself  by  manual  labor,  with 


4  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

some  trifling  assistance  from  charitable  funds.  Per 
son  entered  Harvard  College  in  1816,  and  was  imme 
diately  distinguished  for  high  'scholarship.  At  one 
time  he  reached  the  highest  rank  in  his  class,  —  his 
close  competitor  for  that  honor  being  William  G. 
Eeed  from  South  Carolina.  But  the  brilliant  scholar 
was  always  struggling  with  poverty,  though  constantly 
working  with  brain  and  hands  to  provide  the  means 
for  study.  A  man  with  whom  he  had  business  rela 
tions  deceived  him  ;  college  bills  were  presented  for 
which  there  was  no  money  to  pay  ;  and  Person  sud 
denly  found  himself  compelled  to  leave  Harvard. 
With  despairing  heart  he  took  up  his  Livy  to  prepare 
for  the  last  recitation  that  he  could  hope  to  attend  ; 
but  on  opening  the  book  a  letter  dropped  from  its 
leaves.  It  contained  a  hundred  dollars,  —  a  sum  that 
was  much  larger  at  that  time  than  at  present ;  and 
this  had  been  collected  by  the  efforts  of  his  generous 
rival.  It  may  be  mentioned  that  Person  ascertained 
beyond  reasonable  doubt  the  facts  of  his  parentage, 
though  he  was  never  acknowledged  by  either  father 
or  mother.  But  the  world  had  found  him  out,  and  a 
career  of  honor  and  usefulness  seemed  to  be  opening 
before  him.  Yet  the  sad  and  too  familiar  sequel  to  a 
youth  of  privation  and  effort  was  not  to  be  avoided ; 
the  seeds  of  consumption  were  suddenly  developed, 
and  Person  died  before  completing  his  college 
course.  No  man  could  be  more  beloved  than  our 
gentle  Pelly.  His  classmates  erected  a  stone  to  his 
memory,  which  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Cambridge 
churchyard.  It  bears  a  long  epitaph  in  Latin  from 


A  PURITAN   ACADEMY.  O 

the  pen  of  Reed.  The  concluding  words,  "Plorat 
amissum  praemature  Scientia ;  plorat  Religio  ;  plorat 
Amicitia,"  the  old  commonplaces  of  commemora 
tion,  simply  expressed  the  feelings  of  those  who  were 
privileged  to  know  this  excellent  man. 

The  other  big  boy  who  was  popular  among  us  was 
the  late  Rev.  Dr.  E.  M.  P.  Wells,  —  a  clergyman  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  well  known  in  Boston,  who  has 
left  a  cherished  memory  as  a  devoted  friend  of  the 
poor.  Wells,  who  was  always  good  whether  as  man 
or  boy,  did  not  choose  to  adopt  a  certain  cant  of 
piety  which  was  supposed  to  be  acceptable  to  the 
authorities  of  the  school.  He  was  the  leader  of  our 
Demosthenian  Society,  which  maintained  a  vigorous 
opposition  to  the  Social  Fraternity,  an  association 
which  represented  the  bluest  type  of  New  England 
orthodoxy.  Indeed,  Wells  was  so  little  of  a  puritan 
that  he  once  took  part  in  a  theatrical  performance 
which,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  saints,  was  gotten 
up  among  the  boys.  The  fact  that  the  principal  of 
the  school,  Mr.  Adams,  was  confined  to  his  room  by 
a  six  weeks'  fit  of  sickness,  had  encouraged  us  to 
attempt  this  profane  exhibition.  I  remember  that 
Wells,  who  personated  a  king  who  took  advanced 
views  of  the  responsibilities  of  the  royal  office,  was 
at  much  pains  to  prepare  a  crown  which  was  worthy 
to  surmount  the  head  of  so  exemplary  a  monarch. 
An  affair  of  pasteboard,  painted  yellow  and  cut  into 
high  peaks,  was  no  doubt  striking,  but  yet  seemed 
hardly  worthy  of  the  character.  Finally,  however, 
the  player-king  bethought  himself  of  a  certain  neck- 


FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

lace  of  gold  beads  such  as  was  much  worn  at  that 
period.  This  was  borrowed,  taken  apart,  and  a  bead 
deftly  sewed  upon  every  point  and  angle  of  this 
round  and  top  of  sovereignty.  Those  wlio  remember 
the  majestic  figure  of  Dr.  Wells  in  his  surplice  can 
supply  the  noble  presence  which  filled  his  royal 
robes  ;  while  his  crown  seemed  to  us  a  bit  of  realism 
so  perfect  that  imagination  could  scarcely  add  any 
thing  to  the  make-up  of  the  part.  It  is  necessary  to 
confess  that  I,  in  the  character  of  a  pestilent  Jacobin, 
was  at  the  head  of  a  plot  looking  to  the  assassina 
tion  of  this  model  governor.  The  fatal  instrument  I 
was  to  use  was  no  other  than  a  knife  with  a  broken 
point,  employed  by  Mr.  Adams  to  cut  up  his  pigs. 
This  did  very  well  for  the  first  representations ;  but, 
unluckily,  it  occurred  to  somebody  that  the  report  of 
a  real  pistol,  which  might  be  discharged  behind  the 
scenes,  would  be  a  more  impressive  mode  of  vacating 
the  throne.  Alas,  the  report  of  that  pistol  reached 
the  ears  of  the  authorities,  and  our  actors  were  scat 
tered  as  summarily  as  Puck  scattered  the  Athenian 
mechanics  from  the  scene  of  their  innocent  rehearsal. 
But  if  good  Dr.  Wells  then  lost  his  theatrical  crown, 
it  may  be  safely  said  that  when  he  closed  his  useful 
life  of  fourscore  years,  the  better  crown  of  the  Chris 
tian  hero  awaited  him. 

We  had  come  to  Andover  to  get  religion,  and  the 
pursuit  of  this  object  was  seldom  interfered  with  by 
such  episodes  as  the  one  just  related.  During  the 
first  years  of  my  stay  we  were  taken  to  worship  in 
the  church  of  the  town,  which  was  supported  by  a 


A   PURITAN   ACADEMY.  7 

tax  laid  upon  all  citizens.  What  the  winter  services 
were  in  that  old  meeting-house  no  description  can 
reproduce.  The  building  was  in  decay,  and  the  win 
dows  rattled  with  every  blast.  There  was  no  pre 
tence  of  stove  or  furnace,  and  the  waters  of  life,  which 
were  dispensed  from  the  pulpit,  froze  to  solid  ice  be 
fore  they  reached  us.  There  were,  to  be  sure,  a  few 
pans  of  ignited  charcoal,  which  the  sexton  carried  to 
certain  old  ladies  of  great  respectability,  and  which 
were  supposed  to  impart  some  warmth  to  their  ven 
erable  feet.  But  this  luxury  was  never  provided  for 
the  voting  sex  ;  and  boys,  as  a  matter  of  course,  re 
ceived  their  ghostly  instruction  with  the  chill  on. 
We  muffled  ourselves  up  in  comforters,  as  if  to  go  a 
sleigh  ride,  and  shivered  through  the  long  services, 
warmed  only  by  such  flickering  flames  of  devotion 
as  they  were  calculated  to  kindle.  The  vivid  de 
scriptions  of  those  sultry  regions  to  which  the  vast 
majority  of  the  human  race  were  hastening  lost  some 
thing  of  the  terror  they  were  meant  to  excite.  If  we 
could  only  approach  the  quarters  of  the  condemned 
near  enough  to  get  thoroughly  warmed  through,  the 
broad  road  that  led  to  them  might  gain  an  additional 
attraction.  The  boys  were  required  to  remember  the 
text,  as  well  as  the  heads  of  the  discourse,  and  were 
duly  examined  thereupon  the  next  day.  My  own 
memory  was  good,  —  so  good,  indeed,  that  some  of 
those  sermons  stick  there  yet.  And  they  were  not 
difficult  to  remember  either;  for,  give  the  preacher 
his  premises,  and  let  him  start  his  machine  of  formal 
logic,  and  the  conclusions  ground  themselves  out  with 


8  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

unerring  certainty.  An  exception  to  this  rule  was 
found  in  the  doctrine  of  election  as  not  inconsistent 
with  individual  freedom.  This  was  a  craggy  theme 
with  which  the  Andover  divines  were  accustomed 
to  grapple  with  great  spirit.  They  certainly  showed, 
or  appeared  to  show,  that  we  were  perfectly  free  to 
choose  a  destiny  which,  nevertheless,  had  been  abso 
lutely  decreed  beforehand ;  but  the  reasoning  which 
dissolved  this  formidable  paradox  was  altogether  too 
subtle  for  the  youthful  brain  to  follow. 

A  report  of  an  occasional  sermon  may  give  some 
idea  of  the  gallant  style  in  which  the  Aridover  min 
isters  faced  sin  —  or  what  seemed  to  them  sin  — 
under  difficulties.  It  happened  that  a  proposition 
to  teach  dancing  in  the  town  had  been  made  by 
some  rash  professor  of  that  accomplishment.  Un 
der  this  visitation  there  was  clearly  but  one  subject 
for  the  next  Sunday's  discourse.  The  good  minister 
rose  in  the  pulpit  fully  armed  for  the  encounter ; 
but  he  was  not  the  man  to  take  unfair  advantages. 
The  adversary  should  be  allowed  every  point  which 
seemed  to  make  in  his  favor.  In  pursuance  of 
this  generous  design,  a  text  was  given  out  which 
certainly  did  seem  a  little  awkward  in  view  of  the 
deductions  which  must  be  drawn  from  it.  It  was 
taken  from  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes,  and  was  an 
nounced  with  unflinching  emphasis,  "  There  is  a  time 
to  dance."  The  preacher  began  by  boldly  facing  the 
performance  of  King  David, 

"When  before  the  Ark 
His  grand  pas  seul  excited  some  remark  !  " 


A  PURITAN   ACADEMY. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  record,  we  were  assured 
that  David  did  not  dance.  A  reference  to  the  original 
Hebrew  made  it  plain  that  "  he  took  no  steps."  All 
he  did  was  to  jump  up  and  down  in  a  very  innocent 
manner,  and  it  was  evident  that  this  required  no  pro 
fessional  instruction.  And  now,  having  disposed  of 
the  example  of  the  father,  the  way  was  clear  to  take 
up  the  assertion  of  Solomon  that  there  was  a  time 
to  dance.  Were  this  the  case,  it  were  pertinent  to 
consider  what  that  time  might  be.  Could  a  man  find 
time  to  dance  before  he  was  converted  ?  To  ask 
such  a  question  as  that  was  to  answer  it.  The  ter 
rible  risks  to  which  the  unregenerate  were  exposed, 
and  the  necessity  that  was  upon  them  to  take  .sum 
mary  measures  for  their  avoidance,  clearly  left  no  time 
for  dancing.  And  how  was  it  with  a  man  while  he 
was  being  converted  ?  Overwhelmed  with  the  sense 
of  sin,  and  diligently  seeking  the  remedy,  it  was  sim 
ply  preposterous  to  imagine  that  lie  could  find  time 
for  dancing.  And  how  was  it  with  the  saints  who 
had  been  converted  ?  Surely  such  time  as  they  had 
must  be  spent  in  religious  exercises  for  the  conver 
sion  of  others ;  obviously  they  had  no  time  to  dance. 
And  so  the  whole  of  human  life  had  been  covered, 
and  the  conclusion  was  driven  home  with  resistless 
force.  What  time  for  dancing  Solomon  might  have 
had  in  mind  it  was  unnecessary  to  inquire,  for  it  was 
simply  demonstrable  that  he  could  not  have  referred 
to  any  moment  of  the  time  allotted  to  man  on  this 
earth.  After  this  discourse  it  is  needless  to  say  that 
no  dancing-master  showed  his  face  in  Andover  during 
my  acquaintance  with  the  town. 


10  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

But  if  it  shall  happen  that  I  speak  freely  of  forms 
which  have  no  longer  the  spiritual  meaning  that  once 
filled  them,  I  must  also  emphasize  the  fact  that  a 
stern  pressure  towards  morality  was  characteristic  of 
the  school.  Emulation  was  abandoned  because  it 
appealed  to  lower  motives  than  Christians  should  en 
tertain,  and  the  phrase  "  unhallowed  ambition "  was 
applied  to  the  pursuit  of  excellence  for  any  selfish 
end.  A  society  for  the  cultivation  of  the  moral  vir 
tues,  composed  of  candidates  for  the  Divinity  Depart 
ment  and  some  of  the  smaller  boys,  existed  in  the 
school,  and  a  pledge  to  abstain  from  intoxicating 
liquors  was  exacted  from  its  members. 

During  the  six  years  I  spent  in  Andover  there 
were  several  revivals  of  religion.  The  master  be 
lieved  in  their  utility  and  did  everything  in  his  power 
to  encourage  them.  We  had  prayer-meetings  before 
school,  after  school,  and  in  recess,  and  a  strong  influ 
ence  was  exerted  to  make  us  attend  them.  I  am 
tempted  to  give  a  little  circumstance  in  this  connec 
tion  because  it  shows  the  absolute  sincerity  with 
which  our  teachers  held  their  religious  views.  One 
summer's  day,  after  a  session  of  four  hours,  the  mas 
ter  dismissed  the  school  in  the  usual  form.  No 
sooner  had  he  done  so  than  he  added,  "  There  will 
now  be  a  prayer-meeting:  those  who  wish  to  lie 
down  in  everlasting  burning  may  go ;  the  rest  will 
stay."  It  is  probable  that  a  good  many  boys  wanted 
to  get  out  of  doors.  Two  of  them  only  had  the  au 
dacity  to  rise  and  leave  the  room.  One  of  those 
youngsters  has  since  been  known  as  an  eminent 


A  PURITAN   ACADEMY.  11 

Doctor  of  Divinity ;  the  other  was  he  who  now  relates 
the  incident.  But  no  sooner  was  the  prayer-meeting 
over  than  Mr.  ADAMS  sought  me  out,  asked  pardon 
for  the  dreadful  alternative  he  had  presented,  and 
burst  into  a  flood  of  tears.  He  said  with  deep  emo 
tion  that  he  feared  that  I  had  committed  the  unpar 
donable  sin  and  that  he  had  been  the  cause.  His 
sincerity  and  faith  were  most  touching  ;  and  his  man 
liness  in  confessing  his  error  and  asking  pardon  from 
his  pupil  makes  the  record  of  the  occurrence  an  honor 
to  his  memory. 

The  War  of  1812  put  a  stop  to  navigation  and 
compelled  all  transfers  of  property  to  be  made  by 
wagons.  It  was  said  to  cost  six  thousand  dollars 

O 

to  transport  a  piece  of  ordnance  from  New  York  to 
Buffalo.  A  great  number  of  teams  bearing  produce 
from  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire,  and  smuggled 
goods  from  Canada,  passed  through  Andover.  In  the 
absence  of  mercantile  news,  the  arrival  of  these  wag 
ons  was  announced  under  the  head  of  "  Horse-marine 
news."  One  of  the  humors  of  the  war  was  an  amus 
ing  parody  upon  the  "  Mariners  of  England  "  entitled 
the  "  Wagoners  of  Freedom,"  a  ditty  of  which  I  can 
still  repeat  several  verses.  These  teamsters  had,  how 
ever,  adopted  one  article  of  the  sailors'  faith  that  was 
by  no  means  acceptable  to  the  people  of  Andover. 
They  held  that  "  there  was  no  Sunday  off  soundings," 
and  continued  their  progress  on  that  day  greatly  to 
the  scandal  of  the  righteous  town.  It  was  plain  that 
the  law  must  be  enforced,  and  accordingly  tithing- 
men  lay  in  wait  on  Sunday  at  the  tavern,  and  at  the 


12  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

corners  of'  the  public  roads.  They  succeeded  in  stop 
ping  the  heavy  teams,  but  horsemen  and  light  car 
riages  slipped  through  their  fingers.  But  a  way  was 
soon  devised  to  meet  this  difficulty.  A  deacon  was 
joined  to  the  tithiug-men  the  very  next  Sunday,  and 
the  party  were  put  in  command  of  the  toll-gate,  about 
a  mile  out  of  the  town  on  the  road  leading  to  Boston. 
It  was  known  about  the  school  that  a  trap  had  been 
set  which  no  Sunday  traveller  could  hope  to  escape, 
and  great  was  the  interest  in  waiting  for  a  victim. 
At  length  a  gentleman  driving  a  fine  horse  passed 
along  the  street,  and,  all  unconscious  of  his  fate,  pro 
ceeded  towards  the  toll-gate.  The  excitement  was 
now  intense,  for  we  expected  to  see  him  brought  back 
by  the  deacon  in  ignominious  captivity.  But  the 
spectators  were  disappointed,  for  this  part  of  the  pro 
gramme  was  not  carried  out.  In  what  wonderful 
way  the  traveller  had  managed  to  elude  the  deacon 
and  his  guard  we  could  not  divine.  The  return  of  the 
party  at  sunset  brought  the  explanation,  and  a  dole 
ful  tale  of  depravity  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth. 
Tt  appeared  that  the  gentleman  had  been  duly 
stopped  at  the  toll-gate  and  informed  that  he  could 
go  no  farther.  But  instead  of  showing  the  indigna 
tion  which  his  captors  had  expected,  he  expressed 
himself  as  delighted  to  find  that  Andover  was  bent 
on  enforcing  the  admirable  Sunday  laws,  and  had 
selected  agents  so  prompt  and  capable  as  to  preclude 
all  chance  of  their  evasion.  "But  the  law,  gentle 
men,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "  as  you  well  know,  ex- 
cepts  those  who  travel  upon  errands  of  necessity  or 


A  PURITAN   ACADEMY.  13 

mercy ;  and  I  assure  you  that  my  mother  is  lying 
dead  in  Boston."  Upon  this  statement  the  gate  was 
reluctantly  opened,  and  the  traveller  allowed  to  pro 
ceed.  But  no  sooner  was  he  fairly  out  of  danger 
than  he  reined  in  his  horse  and  delivered  himself 
of  these  heartless  words:  "  Good-by,  Deacon;  tell 
the  busybodies  of  Anclover  that  my  mother  is  lying- 
dead  in  Boston,  — and  you  may  add,  if  you  like, 
that  she  has  been  lying  dead  there  for  the  last 
twenty  years  !  " 

It  need  not  be  said  that  this  occurrence  was  im 
proved,  as  the  text  of  a  lecture  to  the  boys  on  the  sin 
of  prevarication,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  reason  why  I 
remember  it  so  vividly.  A  short  time  after  this, 
another  attempt  to  enforce  the  Sunday  law  was  much 
talked  of  in  the  town.  One  Sabbath  morning,  a  hack 
containing  four  gentlemen  drove  through  the  place 
and  took  the  road  to  Salem.  The  deacon  and  a  tith 
ing- man,  who  were  again  on  the  alert,  stopped  the 
carriage,  and  ordered  the  passengers  to  return  to  the 
tavern.  As  there  was  no  toll-gate  in  the  way  this  time, 
the  travellers  irreverently  consigned  the  ecclesiastical 
functionaries  to  hot  quarters,  and  commanded  their 
driver  to  whip  up  and  go  on.  This  greatly  exasper 
ated  the  deacon  and  his  companion,  who,  considering 
that  the  arrest  of  such  hardened  offenders  was  un 
doubtedly  a  work  of  necessity  and*  mercy,  hired  a 
light  carriage  and  gave  pursuit.  But  a  stern  chase, 
as  the  sailors  say,  is  apt  to  be  a  long  chase,  and  the 
hack  kept  on  till  it  reached  Salem,  where  the  pur 
suers  felt  certain  of  making  a  capture.  And  this 


14  FIGURES   OF   THE  PAST. 

might  have  been  effected  had  the  parties  stopped  at 
any  tavern  or  house,  as  it  was  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  they  would.  But,  unhappily,  on  went  the  hack 
till  it  reached  the  end  of  the  wharf.  Here  the  pas 
sengers  jumped  out,  sprang  into  a  boat  that  was  in 
waiting,  and  were  instantly  rowed  to  a  frigate  which 
was  lying  in  the  harbor, — -their  would-be  captors 
gazing  after  them  in  mute  consternation.  As  it  did 
not  seem  quite  prudent  for  an  Andover  deacon  to  at 
tempt  the  arrest  of  officers  on  board  a  man-of-war, 
there  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  retrace  a  tedious 
journey,  and  to  submit  to  such  chaff  as  a  heartless 
world  bestows  upon  unsuccessful  attempts  to  make  it 
better. 

It  was  provided  that  every  pupil  at  the  Academy 
should  be  taught  to  sing,  and  a  special  master  was 
kept  to  train  us  in  an  accomplishment  which  was 
held  to  be  of  the  first  importance  in  the  next  world, 
if  not  in  this.  English  literature  was  presented  in 
the  sober  guise  of  "Vincent's  Explanations  of  the 
Westminster  Catechism,"  and  "  Mason  on  Self- Knowl 
edge/'  and  from  each  of  these  books  we  were  required 
to  recite  once  a  week.  The  sole  work  of  irnao-ination 

O 

tolerated  by  the  authorities  was  the  "  Pilgrim's  Prog 
ress."  There  was,  nevertheless,  an  awful  rumor, 
only  to  be  mentioned  under  one's  breath,  that  Dr. 
Porter,  professdr  of  rhetoric  in  the  divinity  schools, 
had  upon  his  shelves  the  writings  of  a  person  called 
William  Shakespeare,  a  play-actor,  whose  literary 
productions  were  far  from  edifying.  I  mention  this 
scandal,  not  as  asserting  its  truth  ;  it  mav  be  one 


A  PURITAN   ACADEMY.  15 

more  specimen  of  those  reckless  stories  boys  will  get 
up  about  their  betters. 

But  I  must  pause  in  my  recollections  of  Andover, 
or  there  will  be  no  end  to  them.  What  has  been 
said  has  been  given  from  a  pupil's  point  of  view. 
They  are  simply  the  salient  points  which  happen  to 
stick  in  a  boy's  memory.  They  are  not  to  be  mis 
taken  for  an  estimate  of  the  worth  of  the  institution, 
or  of  the  work  done  by  the  good  and  honorable  men 
who  conducted  it. 


HAEVAED   SIXTY  YEAES   AGO. 


I. 


TN  the  summer  of  1871  a  few  old  men  who  had 
-*-  entered  Harvard  College  together  in  1817  met 
to  commemorate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their 
graduation.  Some  of  them  had  met  annually  in 
Cambridge  for  half  a  century,  and  this  was  to  be 
their  last  class-meeting.  The  memories  of  early 
times  were  revived,  pleasant  passages  of  college  life 
were  recounted,  and  the  hearts  of  the  survivors  were 
lighted  up  in  gratitude  for  being  permitted  to  come 
together  to  take  a  solemn  farewell.  More  than  half 
of  those  who  were  present  at  that  last  class-meeting 
have  since  gone.  The  few  that  remain  are  daily 
awaiting  the  summons  to  follow,  and  any  moment 
it  may  be  too  late  to  hear  from  living  lips  an  account 
of  life  at  Harvard  sixty  years  ago. 

Two  only  of  my  classmates  can  be  fairly  said  to 
have  got  into  history,  although  one  of  them,  Charles 
W.  Upham,  has  written  history  very  acceptably. 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  and  Robert  W.  Barnwell,  for 
widely  different  reasons,  have  caused  their  names  to 
be  known  to  well-informed  Americans.  Of  Emer 
son,  I  regret  to  say,  there  are  few  notices  in  my  jour 
nals.  Here  is  the  sort  of  way  in  which  I  speak  of 


HARVARD    SIXTY  YEARS    AGO.  17 

the  man  who  was  to  make  so  profound  an  impression 
upon  the  thought  of  his  time  :  "  I  went  to  the  chapel 
to   hear  Emerson's    dissertation  :   a  very  good   one, 
but  rather  too  long  to  give  much  pleasure  to  the 
hearers."     The  fault,  I  suspect,  was  in  the  hearers; 
and  another  fact  which  I  have  mentioned  goes  to 
confirm  this  belief.     It  seems  that  Emerson  accepted 
the  duty  of  delivering  the  poem  on  Class  Day,  after 
seven  others  had  been  asked  who  positively  refused. 
So  it  appears  that,  in  the  opinion  of  this  critical  class, 
the  author  of  the  "  Wood  Notes  "  and  the  "  Humble 
Bee  "  ranked  about  eighth  in  poetical  ability.     It  can 
only  be  because  the  works  of  the  other  seven  have 
been  "  heroically  unwritten/''  that  a  different  impres 
sion  has  come  to  prevail  in  the  outside  world.    But  if, 
according   to   the    measurement   of    undergraduates, 
Emerson's   ability  as  a  poet  was  not  conspicuous,  it 
must  also  be  admitted  that,  in  the  judgment  of  per 
sons  old  enough  to  know  better,  he  was  not  credited 
with  that  mastery  of  weighty  prose  which  the  world 
has   since    accorded   him.      In   our   senior  year  the 
higher  classes  competed  for  the  Boylston  prizes  for 
English  composition.     Emerson   and  I   sent  in   our 
essays  with  the  rest,  and  were  fortunate  enough  to 
take  the  two  prizes  ;  but  —  alas  for  the  infallibility 
of  academic  decisions  !  —  Emerson   received  the  sec 
ond  prize.     I  was  of  course  much  pleased  with  the 
award   of    this    intelligent   committee;    and    should 
have  been  still  more  gratified  had  they  mentioned 
that  the  man  who  was  to  be  the  most  original  and 
influential  writer  born  in  America  was    my  unsuc- 

2 


18  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

cessful  competitor.  But  Emerson,  incubating  over 
deeper  matter  than  was  dreamt  of  in  the  established 
philosophy  of  elegant  letters,  seems  to  have  given  no 
sign  of  the  power  that  was  fashioning  itself  for  lead 
ership  in  a  new  time.  He  was  quiet,  unobtrusive, 
and  only  a  fair  scholar  according  to  the  standard  of 
the  college  authorities.  And  this  is  really  all  I  have 
to  say  about  my  most  distinguished  classmate.  Let 
us  be  merciful  to  the  companions  of  the  deer-stealer 
of  Stratford,  that  it  never  occurred  to  them  to  take 
notes  of  his  early  sayings  for  the  benefit  of  posterity. 

The  first  scholar  of  the  class  was  Barnwell,  of 
South  Carolina,  a  noble  specimen  of  the  Southerner, 
high-spirited,  interesting,  and  a  leader  of  men.  It 
was  said  that,  when  he  left  college,  he  told  Upham, 
who  was  his  most  intimate  friend  among  Northerners, 
that  he  would  undergo  perpetual  imprisonment  to 
free  his  State  from  the  curse  of  slavery.  I  cannot 
vouch  for  the  authenticity  of  this  story  ;  I  know  only 
that  it  was  current  at  the  time.  Language  scarcely 
less  strong  had  been  used  by  Jefferson  and  other 
representative  Southern  men.  But  the  set  of  the  tide 
was  the  other  way,  and  Barnwell  became  a  leader 
in  the  great  rebellion  which  resulted  in  emancipation. 
He  was  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  before  the 
war  and  of  the  Confederate  States  during  the  whole 
of  their  existence.  He  takes  a  firm  grasp  upon  his 
tory  as  chairman  of  that  extraordinary  committee  that 
came  to  Washington  to  agree  upon  a  division  of  the 
property  which  had  once  belonged  to  the  United 
States  !  The  letter  to  the  President,  which  Buchanan 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS   AGO.  19 

had  the  spirit  to  return,  was  probably  of  his  draught 
ing.  At  all  events  his  name  leads  the  others,  and 
will  always  stand  there  to  awaken  the  interest  of 
future  students  of  our  American  annals. 

One  other  of  my  classmates  attained  distinguished 
political  office.  This  was  Edward  Kent,  who  was 
our  Minister  to  Brazil,  and  Governor  of  the  State  of 
Maine.  Certainly  these  are  offices  which  it  must 
have  required  a  good  deal  of  activity  to  obtain  if 
not  to  hold.  Yet  in  college  the  future  Governor  had 
so  little  of  the  quick  movements  of  the  politician, 
that  he  was  known  as  the  "  President  of  the  Lazy 
Club."  This  was  said  to  be  the  highest  distinction 
in  an  imaginary  association  whose  members  were 
pledged  to  spare  themselves  all  unnecessary  exertion. 
The  story  ran  that  Kent  was  one  day  seen  running 
across  the  college  yard,  and  that  a  meeting  of  the 
club  had  been  called  to  consider  this  outrageous  con 
duct  on  the  part  of  their  President,  and  to  learn  what 
defence  he  might  find  to  offer.  The  report  continued 
that  Kent  acknowledged  the  truth  of  the  accusation, 
but  drew  himself  up  with  an  air  of  offended  innocence 
and  put  in  this  pathetic  defence :  "  Brethren  of  the 
Lazy  Club,  do  not  condemn  me  unheard.  I  was 
standing  in  perfect  quietness  on  the  steps  of  Hoi- 
worthy,  when  some  villain  came  behind  me  and  gave 
me  a  push.  That  was  the  way  I  got  started;  and 
I  kept  going  on  and  on,  because  the  fact  was  that  / 
was  too  lazy  to  stop"  The  speech  was  probably  as 
fictitious  as  those  which  the  Pioman  historians  were 
in  the  habit  of  composing  for  their  heroes.  Its  cur- 


20  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

rency  as  a  college  story  illustrates  the  general  feeling 
as  to  what  Governor  Kent  ought  to  have  said  under 
the  given  circumstances. 

One  day  early  in  November,  1818,  I  find  a  dry 
twig  pasted  upon  the  leaf  of  my  journal  and  under 
neath  this  inscription  :  "  Eesistance  to  tyrants  is  obe 
dience  to  God.  This  twig  was  my  badge;  all  the 
class  tore  them  from  the  Rebellion  Tree,  and  agreed 
to  wear  them  in  their  bosoms."  The  rough  and 
unmannerly  proceedings  which  characterized  this 
memorable  outbreak  have  long  since  ceased  to  be 
possible  in  first-class  colleges.  Boarding  in  Commons 
was  at  that  time  compulsory,  and  the  freshmen  and 
sophomores  were  fed  in  two  large  halls  which  were 
separated  by  folding  doors.  These  portals  were  gener 
ally  kept  carefully  locked  and  bolted  ;  but,  one  Sun 
day  evening,  they  had  unhappily  been  left  open. 
Taking  advantage  of  this  circumstance,  some  sopho 
more  threw  a  plate  into  the  quarters  of  the  freshmen. 
It  was  promptly  returned  ;  every  one  started  up  from 
the  tables ;  and  a  hot  and  furious  battle  commenced. 
Cups,  saucers,  and  dishes  were  used  as  missiles,  and 
the  total  destruction  of  the  crockery  belonging  to  the 
college  was  the  result.  Of  course  it  was  necessary 
for  the  government  to  take  notice  of  such  an  outrage 
as  this;  and  it  was  soon  announced  that  five  of  my 
classmates  were  suspended  and  must  leave  the  town. 
Two  of  these  victims  were  from  New  York,  two  from 
South  Carolina,  and  one  from  Massachusetts.  The 
students  selected  happened  to  be  very  popular,  and 
it  seemed  to  us  unjust  that  they  alone  should  be 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS  AGO.  21 

punished  for  an  offence  of  which  so  many  others  were 
equally  guilty.  Accordingly  we  followed  them  out 
of  Cambridge  with  shouts  and  cheers,  and,  on  return 
ing,  assembled  about  the  Rebellion  Tree  and  awaited 
results.  After  a  little  time  the  President's  freshman 
came  upon  the  scene,  and  summoned  Adams,  Otis, 
and  myself  to  appear  at  once  in  his  study.  Dr. 
Kirkland  told  us  that  he  was  a  good  friend  of  our 
fathers,  and  wished  to  get  us  out  of  mischief ;  he  must 
accordingly  advise  us  to  leave  town  for  the  present, 
and  should  command  us  at  our  peril  not  to  return  to 
the  tree.  Under  the  excitement  which  ruled  the  hour, 
we  promptly  went  back  to  the  rendezvous ;  and 
Adams,  who  was  appointed  our  spokesman,  addressed 
the  assembly  in  a  vigorous  speech.  I  happen  to  re 
member  the  climax  of  his  remarks:  "Gentlemen,  we 
have  been  commanded,  at  our  peril,  not  to  return  to 
the  Rebellion  Tree  :  at  our  peril  we  do  return  !  "  This 
morsel  of  defiance  seemed  to  us  to  ha-ve  as  fine  a  ring 
as  the  famous,  "  Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or 
perish,"  which  Daniel  Webster  subsequently  attrib 
uted  to  the  grandfather  of  the  speaker.  The  applause 
was  immense,  and  we  voted  to  remain  in  session  all 
day,  and  to  absent  ourselves  from  all  college  exer 
cises.  Even  the  rain  which  soon  began  to  descend 
was  powerless  to  disperse  us;  for  we  adjourned  in 
force  to  the  great  porch  which  then  stood  in  front  of 
University  Hall.  The  end  of  it  was  that  there  was 
a  new  crop  of  rustications  and  suspensions  ;  and  this 
burlesque  of  patriots  struggling  with  tyrants  gradu 
ally  played  itself  out,  and  came  to  an  end.  But  the 


22  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

events  of  that  fervid  time  impressed  themselves  so 
deeply  upon  us,  that,  when  "  the  great  rebellion  "  is 
spoken  of,  my  first  thought  is  that  the  allusion  must 
be,  not  to  Charles  I.  and  the  Puritans,  nor  yet  to 
the  American  colonists  and  England,  but  to  that 
magnificent  protest  against  oppression  that  was  made 
at  Harvard  College  sixty-three  years  ago. 

Perhaps  the  reader  will  like  to  see  how  two  men 
who  afterwards  achieved  the  highest  distinction  in 
letters  appeared  to  a  college  student  before  whom 
they  lectured.  Here  is  what  I  find  recorded  of  the 
eminent  historian  of  Spanish  literature.  "In  the 
evening  I  attended  Ticknor's  lecture,  which  was 
most  beautiful  and  delightful,  and  on  a  subject  as 
dry  as  possible.  He  explained  to  us  on  the  map 
how  languages  progressed,  and  what  was  their  origin. 
There  is  something  very  pleasing  in  his  style  and 
delivery,  and  he  introduced  figures  very  appropriately. 
But  independently  of  this,  there  is  a  melody  in  his 
voice  truly  delightful.  When  describing  the  softness 
and  beauty  of  the  Provencal,  it  seemed  as  if  he  spoke 
in  that  delicious  language.  When  he  said  of  St. 
Louis,  '  whether  he  desired  his  canonization  or  not, 
he  certainly  was  one  of  the  truest  patriots,  one  of 
the  bravest  knights,  and  one  of  the  noblest  gentlemen 
who  ever  lived,'  it  seemed  as  though  his  eulogy  was 
complete.  Those  words  seemed  to  express  all  that 
was  virtuous,  lovely,  and  honorable,  so  that  no  addi 
tion  could  be  made  to  his  character." 

A  far  greater  orator  than  Professor  Ticknor  —  one 
to  whose  matchless  eloquence  I  shall  hereafter  find 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS   AGO.  23 

occasion  to  refer  —  is  disposed  of  with  all  the  confi 
dence  of  a  critic  in  his  teens  :  "  Attended  Everett's 
first  lecture,  and  was  riot  so  much  pleased  as  I  ex 
pected  to  be.  He  is  not  eloquent  or  interesting,  and 
is  rather  given  to  egotism  ;  however,  by  his  prolixity 
we  gained  a  miss  from  Farrar  for  the  fourth  time 
this  term.  This  was  much  to  the  gratification  of  the 
class,  who  in  general  hate  his  branch  though  they 
like  him."  Professor  Farrar's  unpopular  branch 
was  the  mathematics,  which  then  as  now  was  attrac 
tive  to  only  a  small  minority  of  the  students.  There 
were  no  electives  in  those  days,  and  our  tastes  were 
not  consulted  in  the  selection  of  studies. 


II. 


HARVARD  COLLEGE,  at  the  time  of  which  I  am 
writing,  was  very  different  from  the  noble  university 
which  at  present  bears  the  old  name.  Some  students 
entered  at  twelve  years  of  age,  though  fifteen  was 
nearer  the  average  among  those  whose  parents  were 
well  off.  We  were  treated  as  boys,  and  not  without 
reason.  The  law  declared  that  we  must  not  go  to 
Boston  without  permission,  or  pass  a  night  away  from 
Cambridge  without  a  special  license  from  the  authori 
ties.  Moreover,  in  the  early  part  of  1819,  the  Presi 
dent,  in  behalf  of  the  corporation,  promulgated  a 
statute  to  the  effect  that  a  fine  of  ten  dollars  would 


24  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

be  exacted  from  every  student  who  was  caught  at 
the  theatre,  while  five  dollars  must  be  paid  by  any 
one  who  attended  a  party  in  Boston.  But  it  is  proba 
ble  that  the  corporation  made  no  attempt  to  carry 
out  the  system  of  espionage  which  their  savage  edict 
seemed  to  necessitate.  We  certainly  used  to  go  to 
the  theatre  and  to  parties  with  some  freedom,  and 
seldom  got  into  difficulty  from  doing  so. 

But  there  were  natural   impediments   to   leaving 
Cambridge,  which  would  have  astonished  the  pam 
pered   young  gentlemen  who  are  now  complaining 
that  a  horse-car  every  three  minutes  does  riot  furnish 
suitable  communication  with  the  metropolis,  and  de 
mand  an  elevated  railroad  to  give  them  their  full 
rights  in  this  particular.     We  knew  but  a  morning 
and   evening   stage.     At   nine   and   at   two  o'clock, 
Morse,    the   stage-driver,    drew    up    in   the   college 
yard,  and  performed  upon  a  tin  horn  to  notify  us 
of  his  arrival.     He  was  a  great  hero  among  the  stu 
dents,   for   coachmen  have  some    mysterious   charm 
about  them  which  wins  the  regard  of  young  gentle 
men  in  their  teens.     Those  who  went  to  Boston  in 
the  evening  were  generally  forced  to  walk.     It  was 
possible,  to  be  sure,  to  hire  a  chaise  of  Jemmy  Reed 
(who  held  the  same  place  that  Hobson   did  in  the 
Cambridge  of  Milton),  yet  his  horses  were  expensive 
animals,  and  he  was  very  particular  in  satisfying  him 
self  of  the  undoubted  credit  of  those  to  whom  he  let 
them.     And  it  was  probably  well  for  us  that  we  were 
so  often  compelled  to  resort  to  the  primitive  means  of 
locomotion ;  for  the  necessity  of  regular  exercise  for 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS  AGO.  25 

students  was  unrecognized  at  the  time,  and  such  as 
we  obtained  was  taken  very  irregularly  and  with 
some  end  in  view.  There  was  a  favorite  summer 
walk  to  Sweet  Auburn,  which  was  then  as  Nature 
made  it ;  and  when  the  skies  were  perfectly  favorable 
we  consented  to  avail  ourselves  of  its  attractions. 
This  beautiful  piece  of  country  was  afterwards  christ 
ened  Mount  Auburn,  and  became  the  first  garden- 
cemetery  in  the  country. 

There  were  some  half-a-dozen  houses  on  the  avenue 
leading  from  the  colleges  to  Sweet  Auburn  ;  they  had 
been  built  before  the  Eevolution,  and  were  abandoned 
by  their  tory  proprietors.  The  largest  and  most  con 
spicuous  was  the  fine  mansion  which  had  been  the 
headquarters  of  Washington,  and  which  has  since 
gained  additional  interest  as  the  residence  of  the  poet 
Longfellow.  It  was  then  occupied  by  Mrs.  Craigie, 
the  widow  of  a  gentleman  very  notable  in  his  day. 
He  had  made  a  large  fortune  by  buying  up  govern 
ment  promises,  and  by  other  speculations  during  the 
Ke volution.  He  kept  a  princely  bachelor's  establish 
ment  at  the  old  house,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  exer 
cising  a  generous  hospitality.  A  curious  story  relating 
to  his  marriage  was  current  among  his  contemporaries, 
and  there  can  be  now  no  harm  in  giving  it  as  I  have 
heard  it  from  their  lips. 

A  great  garden  party  had  been  given  by  Mr. 
Craigie,  and  all  the  fashion  and  beauty  of  Boston 
were  assembled  in  his  spacious  grounds.  The  day 
was  perfect,  the  entertainment  was  lavish,  and  the 
company  were  bent  on  enjoying  themselves.  Smiles 


26  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

and  deference  met  the  host  upon  every  side,  and  new 
comers  were  constantly  arriving  to  pay  that  homage 
to  wealth  and  sumptuous  liberality  which  from  im 
perfect  mortals  they  have  always  elicited.  "  Craigie  ! " 
exclaimed  an  intimate  friend  to  the  host  during  one 
of  the  pauses  of  compliment,  "  what  can  man  desire 
that  you  have  not  got  ?  Here  are  riches,  friends,  a 
scene  of  enchantment  like  this,  and  you  the  master 
of  them  all ! "  "I  am  the  most  miserable  of  men  ! " 
was  the  startling  reply.  "  If  you  doubt  it,  you  shall 
know  my  secret :  do  you  see  those  two  young  ladies 
just  turning  down  the  walk?  Well,  they  are  both 
engaged,  and  with  one  of  them  I  am  desperately  in 
love."  There  was  no  time  for  more,  for  the  crowd 
again  surged  round  the  host,  and  the  friend  was  left 
to  meditate  upon  the  revelation  which  had  been  made. 
One  of  the  ladies  who  had  been  pointed  out  was  a 
great  beauty  of  the  time,  and  it  so  happened  that 
Mr.  Craigie's  confidant  was  on  very  intimate  terms 
with  her  family.  It  was  well  known  that  the  match 
she  was  about  to  make  did  not  gratify  the  ambitious 
views  of  her  relations.  Now  whether  Mr.  Craigie's 
friend  betrayed  his  secret  to  the  father  of  this  young 
person  cannot  certainly  be  known ;  but  the  current 
report  was  that  he  did  so.  At  all  events,  shortly 
after  the  garden  party,  he  broke  in  upon  the  Croe 
sus  of  Cambridge  with  an  exultant  air,  exclaiming, 
"  Craigie,  I  have  come  to  tell  you  glorious  news ; 
the  coast  is  clear ;  Miss has  broken  off  her  en 
gagement  !  "  "  Why,  what  the  deuce  is  that  to  me  ? " 
was  the  disappointing  reply.  "  Good  heavens,  man, 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS  AGO.  27 

don't  you  remember  telling  me  that  you  were  des 
perately  in  love  with  one  of  the  young  ladies  you 
pointed  out  at  the  garden  party  ?  "  "  To  be  sure  I 
did,"  sighed  Mr.  Craigie,  "but  unfortunately  I  re 
ferred  to  the  other  young  lady" 

Now  there  is  a  fallacy  of  which  logicians  warn  us, 
and  which  they  designate  as  the  fallacy  of  post  hoc, 
ergo  propter  hoc.     Bearing  this  in  mind,  it  seems  quite 
clear  that  the  disclosure  that  was  made  respecting 
the  supposed  state  of  Mr.    Craigie's    affections  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  dissolution  of  the 
young  lady's  engagement.     It  was  undoubtedly  only 
one  of  those  queer  coincidences  which  seem  to  con 
nect  events  that  have  really  no  connection  with  one 
another.     And   this   is   the   more   probable   because 
another  of  these  strange  freaks  of  chance  is  found 
in  the  sequel  of  the  story.     For  it  happened  — or 
was  said  to  have  happened  —  that  "the  other  young 
lady"  subsequently  found  good  reason  to  break  off 
her  engagement,  and,  as  Mrs.    Craigie,   came  to  pre 
side  over  all  future  garden  parties.     But  this  climax 
to  the  tale  was  perhaps  added  by  some  unscrupulous 
narrator.      Indeed  it  seems  to  bear  on  its  face  an 
improbability   which   gives  evidence  of   fabrication. 
It  only  shows  that  gossip  was  busy  with  this  fine 
old  mansion  long  before  it  was  known  as  the  resi 
dence  of  Mr.    Longfellow,    and  that  we,  old  college 
boys,  found  something  to  talk  about  as  we  strode 
past  it  on  our  way  to  Sweet  Auburn. 

I  have  said  that  the  decrees  of  the  corporation  did 
not  prevent  us  from  going  to  the  theatre ;  but  if  I 


28  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

am  to  tell  the  whole  truth,  I  fear  it  must  be  acknowl 
edged  that  they  actually  added  a  zest  to  that  forbid 
den  enjoyment.  For  there  is  a  good  deal  of  human 
nature  in  the  familiar  story  of  the  gentleman  who, 
being  very  fond  of  pork,  protested  that  fate  had  been 
cruel  to  him  in  not  so  arranging  matters  as  to  have 
caused  him  to  be  born  a  Jew, —  "  for  then,"  said  he, 
"  I  should  have  had  the  pleasure  of  eating  pork  and 
of  sinning  at  the  same  time."  The  latter  delight, 
whatever  it  may  have  amounted  to,  the  authorities 
of  Andover  and  of  Harvard  College  had  taken  good 
care  that  we  should  have  in  connection  with  all  scenic 
representations.  There  was  but  one  theatre  in  Bos 
ton,  and  performances  were  held  three  days  in  the 
week.  The  box  office  was  opened  only  on  the  day 
of  the  play,  and  a  battle  often  occurred  in  the  efforts 
of  the  crowd  to  reach  the  window  from  which  tickets 
were  dispensed.  Morse,  the  stage-driver,  was  our 
champion  upon  these  occasions,  and  we  waited  his 
return  with  eagerness  to  know  how  the  fight  had 
gone,  and  what  spoils  he  had  brought  us  from  the 
box  office. 

My  freshman  year  was  marked  by  the  appearance 
of  Incledon,  in  what  were  then  called  operas,  that  is 
to  say,  plays  of  which  two  thirds  were  dialogue  and 
the  rest  song.  In  one  of  these  performances  he  in 
troduced  his  famous  song,  "  The  Bay  of  Biscay,"  and 
I  well  remember  the  storm  of  enthusiasm  which  tes 
tified  to  the  wonderful  pathos  he  threw  into  the  earlier 
stanzas,  and  to  the  triumphant  vigor  of  its  conclusion. 
In  those  days  demands  for  repetition  and  summons 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS   AGO.  29 

before  the  curtain  had  not  degenerated  into  the  un 
meaning  and  annoying  conventionalities  they  have 
since  become.  They  were  seldom  given,  and  when 
bestowed  carried  a  real  compliment  to  the  performer. 
Incledon,  appeared  in  answer  to  the  call ;  but,  instead 
of  the  impassioned  instrument  of  the  superb  vocaliza 
tion  to  which  we  had  listened,  he  stood  before  us  as 
the  exhausted  old  man  he  really  was.  "  Ladies  and 
gentlemen,"  said  lie,  "  it  is  impossible  for  any  man  to 
repeat  that  song  without  intermission."  The  wearied 
tone  and  fatigued  attitude  of  the  veteran  were  very 
touching ;  it  was  a  striking  change  from  the  pathos 
of  art  to  the  pathos  of  nature.  Yet  it  is  humiliating 
to  confess  that  my  vivid  remembrance  of  the  circum 
stance  is  probably  in  part  owing  to  the  advantage 
that  was  taken  of  it  by  Bray,  the  comic  actor  of  the 
day.  For  in  the  farce  which  succeeded  the  main 
performance  he  introduced  one  of  those  audacious 
"  gags "  which  Shakespeare's  good  advice  to  his 
clowns,  "  to  speak  no  more  than  is  set  down  for 
them,"  lias  not  succeeded  in  banishing  from  the 
stage.  A  popular  song  of  the  day.  called  "The  Old 
Jackdaw  and  the  Young  Jackdaw,"  had  been  sung 
by  Bray,  who  interrupted  the  applause  with  which 
it  was  greeted  by  suddenly  assuming  the  manner  of 
luck  don,  and  declaring  to  the  audience  with  the 
utmost  gravity  that  it  was  beyond  the  power  of 
any  mortal  to  repeat  the  song  to  which  they  had 
just  listened.  The  peals  of  laughter  which  this  sally 
occasioned  ring  in  my  ears  yet.  The  incident  serves 
to  show  how  the  nonsense  of  a  buffoon  may  linger 


30  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

in  the  memory,  after  so  many  of  the  words  of  wis 
dom  which  the  Harvard  professors  uttered  are  wholly 
effaced. 

I  will  conclude  my  college  experiences  of  the 
theatre  by  copying  my  impressions  of  Edmund  Kean, 
as  they  are  recorded  in  the  journal  of  my  senior  year. 
"  My  father  came  for  me  and  took  me  to  the  theatre 
to  see  Kean  as  Richard  Third,  and  never  until  then 
had  I  any  idea  of  acting.  He  is  small,  ugly,  and 
voiceless ;  and  yet  his  talents  covered  all  defects. 
The  parts  with  which  I  was  most  pleased  were  the 
courtship  of  Lady  Anne,  the  tent  scene,  and  the 
death.  His  long  pauses  have  great  effect.  Some 
times  he  paused  two  minutes  by  the  stop-watch  ; 
but  his  countenance  spoke  all  the  time.  A  dropped 
pin  might  have  been  heard  all  over  the  house.  I 

sat  in  the  same  box  with  Miss  S ,  who  talked 

in  a  most  unprecedented  manner,  for  she  asked  me 
more  questions  and  said  more  in  two  minutes  than 
she  ever  did  before  in  two  days.  My  hearing  Kean 
will  always  be  remembered  by  me  to  my  last  day, 
and  hereafter  when  other  actors  fill  the  station  he 
now  occupies,  I  shall  remark  on  their  inferiority  to 
him,  and  may  also,  with  the  garrulity  of  age,  describe 
the  superior  beauty  of  the  ladies  of  the  present  day 
when  their  granddaughters  shall  be  belles  in  their 
stead.  Nothing  reminds  us  of  the  flight  of  time  so 
much  as  taking  the  present  moment,  and  anticipating 
what  will  be  our  emotions  when  we  look  back  upon 
it  from  a  distance." 

As  there  is  little  to  add  to  this  sage  proposition,  I 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS   AGO.  31 

will  conclude  by  mentioning  one  annoying  sequel  of 
our  visits  to  the  city,  which  readers  of  the  present 
day  will  find  it  hard  to  understand.  The  difficulty 
of  getting  a  light  with  numb  fingers,  on  a  cold  night, 
was  a  petty  misery  of  life  which  has  long  been  un 
known.  In  vain  were  the  flint  and  steel  clashed 
together ;  too  often  it  happened  that  no  available 
spark  was  the  result.  The  tinder,  which  we  made 
from  old  shirts,  would  absorb  dampness  in  spite  of 
all  precautions  to  keep  it  dry.  Sometimes  after 
shivering  for  half  an  hour,  during  our  efforts  to  kin 
dle  it,  we  were  forced  to  go  to  bed  in  the  dark  in 
a  condition  of  great  discomfort,  and  feeling  that  we 
had  purchased  our  amusement  at  an  extravagant 
cost. 


III. 


I  MAKE  the  following  extract  from  my  journal  of 
July  7,  1820  :  - 

"After  breakfast  the  College  Company  went  to 
town  accompanied  by  the  full  band.  We  marched 
through  a  great  number  of  the  dustiest  and  dirtiest 

O  O 

streets.  At  last  we  arrived  at  Chestnut  Street, 
where  we  partook  of  a  most  splendid  collation  at  the 
house  of  General  Sumner.  We  were  received  in  a 
room  in  which  there  were  all  kinds  of  refreshments, 
and  ladies  among  other  things.  This  gave  it  a  very 
genteel  effect,  though  none  were  remarkably  hand- 


FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

some  except  Misses  S and  B .  After  parad 
ing  before  the  house,  we  went  to  the  Common,  and 
then  to  Mr.  Gray's,  where  we  got  good  drink.  From 
there  we  went  to  State  Street,  and  after  performing 
a  variety  of  evolutions,  we  dined  at  the  Washington 
Garden,  where  toasts,  songs,  etc.,  abounded.  This  be 
ing  finished,  we  returned  to  Cambridge,  where,  won 
derful  to  relate,  the  President  gave  us  a  treat,  and  we 
were  dismissed.  The  day  was  exceptionally  hot,  and 
we  all  perspired  in  glory.  I  drank  an  enormous  quan 
tity,  to  say  nothing  of  what  I  eat,  and  finished  my 
exploits  with  hasty  pudding  and  molasses  at  the 
club." 

After  this,  the  next  day's  entry  is  not  surprising: 
"  Stayed  at  home  to  recruit  after  our  labors." 

The  Harvard  Washington  Corps,  one  of  whose 
excursions  is  chronicled  above,  was  composed  of 
students  of  the  two  higher  classes,  but  was  officered 
exclusively  by  seniors.  It  was  very  popular  among 
the  undergraduates,  though  by  no  means  approved  by 
the  older  friends  of  the  college.  To  hold  a  command 
in  the  company  was  considered  a  great  distinction, 
and  there  was  much  rivalry  among  candidates.  There 
was  one  condition  necessary  to  promotion :  the  as 
pirant  must  have  a  good  leg;  for  the  uniform  required 
the  officers  to  appear  in  tights,  and  any  crural 
deficiency  was  an  obstacle  which  could  not  be  sur 
mounted.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  first  ques 
tion  asked  concerning  any  candidate  was  this,  "  How 
is  the  man  off  for  a  leg  ? " 

Now  it  happened  that  there  was  exhibited  daily 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS  AGO.  33 

before  the  students  what  may  be  called  an  ideal  leg, 
by  which  all  others  might  be  measured,  and  their 
shortcomings  noted.  This  shapely  limb  was  the 
property  of  Dr.  Popkin,  the  Greek  professor;  and 
the  owner  seemed  fully  conscious  of  the  beauty  of 
its  proportions,  for  he  was  in  the  habit  of  nursing  and 
smoothing  it,  while  hearing  recitations,  to  the  great 
delight  of  his  classes.  And  so,  when  inquiries  were 
made  touching  the  calves  of  any  would-be  officer, 
there  was  but  this  one  answer  that  was  really  satis 
factory,  "  Why,  sir,  his  leg  is  as  good  as  Dr.  Pop's  ! " 

The  Greek  professor,  I  may  say  in  passing,  possessed 
an  •  individuality  that,  if  somewhat  odd,  was  clearly 
cut  and  impressive.  He  was  once  asked  by  a  lady 
who  admired  a  system  of  theology  then  much  dis 
cussed,  whether  he  was  a  Hopkinsian.  "Not  a 
bit  of  it,  madam ;  I  am  always  a  Popkinsian,"  was 
the  prompt  reply.  And  it  was  even  so,  for  never 
was  man  more  vigorously  himself.  His  antique  sim 
plicity,  dry  humor,  and  hatred  of  all  shams  were  just 
the  qualities  to  win  the  regard  of  young  men ;  and  it 
was  more  affection  than  offensive  familiarity  which 
led  to  the  universal  abbreviation  of  his  name.  It  is 
said  he  once  turned  suddenly  upon  a  stranger  whom 
he  had  overheard  designating  him  by  the  familiar  col 
lege  title,  "  What  right  have  you  to  call  me  Dr.  Pop, 
sir?  you  were  never  one  of  my  boys  at  Harvard." 
Years  after  this,  I  happened  to  meet  the  Doctor  wear 
ing  the  baggy  pantaloon  which  reduced  all  legs  to 
that  democratic  equality  which  Jefferson's  manifesto 
declares  to  be  the  birthright  of  the  people  who  go 

3 


34  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

about  on  them.  I  could  not  help  remarking  that 
he,  of  airmen,  had  reason  to  lament  the  departure  of 
breeches  and  the  accompanying  stocking.  The  old 
gentleman  seemed  much  gratified  with  the  allusion, 
and  declared  that  the  fashion  was  detestable  which 
caused  Apollo  and  a  Satyr  to  be  equally  presentable. 

There  was  a  theory  current  among  us  college  boys 
that  Dr.  Pop  was,  so  to  speak,  a  born  bachelor.  His 
queer  habits,  we  thought,  must  have  dried  upon  him 
in  infancy,  and  to  break  through  their  crust  was  as 
far  beyond  his  power  as  it  was  averse  to  his  inclina 
tion.  I  might  have  held  this  opinion  till  the  present 
day,  had  it  not  been  for  a  few  words  that  the  Dootor 
once  let  fall  at  my  father's  table.  The  conversation 
was  running  upon  the  pronunciation  of  Greek  names, 
and  one  of  the  family  asked  where  the  accent  should 
be  placed  in  Iphigenia.  "  Why,  in  my  class-room," 
said  Dr.  Popkin,  "  I  should  certainly  say  Iphigenia, 
but  in  common  talk  it  is  so  often  called  Iphigenm 
that  I  have  never  attempted  to  change  it."  "Then 
you  have  never  tried  to  change  a  lady's  name  out 
side  your  class-room  ! "  said  my  father  pleasantly.  An 
expression  never  seen  before  darkened  the  face  of 
the  good  gentleman,  and  there  was  a  soft  dewy  qual 
ity  in  his  voice  as  he  sighed  forth  the  words,  "  Sir, 
I  have  never  succeeded"  It  was  plain  that  to  this 
man,  as  to  so  many  of  his  fellow  mortals,  a  hope  had 
arisen  only  to  be  crushed,  and  that  his  life  had  been 
thrust  aside  from  a  path  which  once  seemed  to  open. 
Another  Dr.  Pop,  whose  existence  we  had  never  sus 
pected,  was  for  a  moment  revealed ;  there  was  a 


HARVARD    SIXTY    YEARS   AGO.  35 

sacredness  added  to  the  bachelor  professor  after  that 
little  speech. 

In  striking  contrast  to  Dr.  Popkin  was  Professor 
Frisbie,  a  gentleman  of  whom  I  find  several  notices 
in  my  journals.  He  had  lost  the  use  of  his  eyes  for 
purposes  of  study,  but  the  clearness  and  condensation 
of  his  thought,  as  well  as  the  exquisite  finish  of  the 
language  in  which  it  was  conveyed,  showed  that  his 
mind  had  not  suffered  from  the  deprivation.  Mr. 
Frisbie  had  entered  the  service  of  the  college  as 
teacher  of  Latin,  but  was  promoted  to  the  chair  of 
moral  philosophy.  He  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  soon 
after  iny  class  graduated.  His  friend,  Professor  Nor 
ton,  in  a  touching  address  made  at  his  funeral,  men 
tioned,  as  a  marked  trait  of  his  character,  that  he 
could  never  bear  to  hear  treated  with  levity  those 
vices  which  a  lax  public  opinion  has  considered 
venial.  There  was  a  passage  of  Tacitus  which  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  quoting  with  expressions  of  strong 
approval.  The  historian,  speaking  of  the  manners  of 
the  Germans,  says,  "Nemo  illic  vitia  videt,  nee  corrum- 
pere  et  corrurnpi  Saeculum  vocatur;"  or,  as  the  sub 
stance  may  be  rendered  in  very  free  English,  "Vicious 
indulgence  is  never  made  the  subject  of  a  jest,  nor  are 
the  customs  of  society  admitted  as  palliating  a  de 
parture  from  moral  rectitude."  The  doctrine  implied 
in  the  quotation  is  the  rule  of  life  for  all  good  men, 
and  Frisbie  probably  felt  that  its  importance  was  too 
little  realized  by  the  impulsive  youths  who  sur 
rounded  him.  Let  me  add  that  this  professor  of 
moral  philosophy  was  very  human  in  some  of  his 


36  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

tastes.  He  was  very  fond  of  novels,  and  saw  no  harm 
in  them  if  they  were  well  selected.  Where  sound 
morality  was  deftly  mixed  with  fiction,  he  held  that 
it  would  tend  only  to  good,  —  an  opinion  which  seemed 
much  stranger  sixty  years  ago  than  it  does  to-day. 

But  I  did  not  mean  to  get  among  the  professors, — 
indeed,  were  these  papers  put  together  upon  any 
literary  plan,  they  would  be  all  lumped  together  in 
some  biographical  department.  But  the  reader  will 
have  already  discovered  that  no  symmetry  of  arrange 
ment  is  to  be  expected  in  the  compositions  before 
him.  They  simply  follow  the  drift  of  conversation, 
and  are  based  upon  such  questions  as  my  journals 
suggest  to  my  friend  who  is  turning  over  their  yel 
low  leaves.  Sometimes  it  happens  that  I  can  throw 
no  light  whatever  upon  their  records.  For  instance, 
I  have  just  been  asked  to  explain  this  allusion, 
"Capital  story  of  the  President  and  Dr.  Pop!"  What 
was  that  story  that  was  once  so  enjoyable  ?  Alas,  I 
have  fumbled  through  my  memory  in  vain,  —  I  can 
not  find  a  trace  of  it.  No  doubt  it  would  light  up 
this  paper,  could  it  only  be  recovered ;  but  it  lies 
somewhere  in  the  past,  as  speechless  as  the  lips  of 
the  old  college  boys  who  laughed  together  over  the 
fun  they  found  in  it.  Time  silences  not  only  Yorick 
the  jester,  but  is  apt  to  cover  up  with  him  his  gibes 
and  flashes  of  merriment,  his  songs  and  his  good  sto 
ries.  We  can  no  longer  use  his  keen  eyes  in  looking 
after  the  ludicrous.  And  yet  no  generation  need  de 
spair  of  finding  enough  of  it  to  cast  a  pleasant  glow 
upon  life.  The  foibles  of  human  nature  will  always 


HARVARD    SIXTY   YEARS   AGO.  37 

furnish  abundant  matter  for  wholesome  mirth,  and 
they  will  always  be  benefactors  who  provide  it  for 
their  weary  brethren  who  are  trudging  over  the  dusty 
highway  of  the  world. 

I  have  said  that  there  were  grave  doubts  in  the 
minds  of  conservative  citizens  respecting  the  pro 
priety  of  the  College  Company ;  but  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  there  was  no  doubt  whatever  concerning  the 
College  Fire  Department.  From  an  outside  point 
of  view  it  was  an  unmitigated  nuisance,  —  a  circum 
stance  which  did  not  render  it  less  dear  to  the  hearts 
of  the  students.  Like  most  vested  interests,  the  col 
lege  engine  struck  its  roots  into  the  good  old  times 
of  our  ancestors,  and  was  very  difficult  to  abolish. 
The  corporation  had  long  owned  a  little  tub  of  a 
machine,  which  would  be  thought  scarcely  fit  to 
water  a  flower-bed  at  the  present  day,  and  the  under 
graduates  had  always  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  tearing 
off  with  this  instrument  whenever  there  was  an  alarm 
of  fire.  The  captain  of  the  engine  was  appointed  by 
the  President  of  the  college,  but  as  all  the  minor 
offices  were  filled  by  the  suffrages  of  the  students,  the 
organization  was  democratic  enough  to  be  interesting. 
No  sooner  did  the  fire-bell  ring  than  we  got  into  all 
sorts  of  horrible  and  grotesque  garments.  Hats  in 
the  last  stages  of  dilapidation  and  strange  ancestral 
coats  were  carefully  kept  for  these  occasions.  Feel 
ing  that  we  were  pretty  well  disguised,  there  seemed 
nothing  to  hinder  that  lawless  abandonment  to  a  frolic 
which  is  so  delightful  to  unregenerate  man  when 
youthful  blood  bubbles  in  his  veins.  I  cannot  re- 


38  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

member  that  we  ever  rendered  the  slightest  assist 
ance  in  extinguishing  a  fire ;  indeed,  there  were  so 
many  good  reasons  for  stopping  on  the  way  that  we 
commonly  arrived  after  it  was  out.  And  then,  if  we 
were  tired,  we  had  an  impudent  way  of  leaving  the 
tub  upon  the  ground,  well  knowing  that  the  govern 
ment  would  send  for  their  property  the  next  day. 

Among  the  memorable  fires  that  were  attended 
by  the  college  engine,  the  burning  of  the  Exchange 
Coffee-House  was  the  most  impressive.  This  build 
ing  was  said  to  be  the  finest  in  the  Union,  and  was 
certainly  the  pride  and  boast  of  Boston.  It  had 
noble  halls,  and  over  two  hundred  lesser  apartments. 
It  was  quite  a  little  town  in  itself,  giving  shelter  to 
brokers,  insurance  companies,  foreign  consuls,  and 
masonic  lodges.  It  had  cost  about  $600,000,  which 
was  then  thought  to  be  an  immense  sum  to  be  put 
in  bricks  and  mortar.  The  light  was  so  great  as  to 
be  seen  over  a  large  area  of  country,  and  far  out  to 
sea;  and  when,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  the 
dome  came  crashing  down,  a  shudder  ran  through 
thousands  of  excited  spectators.  Strange  to  say,  no 
life  was  lost  through  all  the  tumult  and  confusion 
of  the  night.  It  was  not  until  the  next  day  that 
an  accident  occurred  which  called  to  mind  the  end 
of  Clarence  in  his  butt  of  Malmsey.  An  immense 
caldron  of  beer  lay  open  among  the  ruins,  and  into 
this  a  poor  boy  managed  to  fall  with  consequences 
quite  as  fatal  as  the  wine  brought  to  the  royal  duke. 

On  our  return  from  this  fire,  exhausted  with  ex 
citement  and  fatigue,  we  repaired  to  the  engine-house, 


HARVARD    SIXTY   YEARS    AGO.  39 

as  was  our  custom,  and  were  there  regaled  upon 
"  black  strap/'  a  composition  of  which  the  secret,  as 
I  fervently  hope,  now  reposes  with  the  lost  arts.  Its 
principal  ingredients  were  rum  and  molasses,  though 
it  is  probable  there  were  other  simples  combined 
with  these  conspicuous  factors.  Of  all  the  detestable 
American  drinks,  upon  which  the  inventive  genius 
of  our  countrymen  has  exercised  itself,  this  "  black 
strap"  was  surely  the  most  outrageous.  It  finally 
broke  up  the  engine  company,  and  this  was  perhaps 
the  only  good  thing  which  ever  came  of  it.  For 
matters  at  last  reached  a  crisis ;  the  government 
came  to  their  senses,  sold  the  engine,  and  broke  up 
the  association.  But  to  take  the  edge  off  the  cruelty 
of  this  necessary  act,  it  was  decided  that  the  com 
pany  should  be  allowed  a  final  meeting.  And  so  we 
celebrated  the  obsequies  of  the  old  machine  witli  an 
oration  and  a  poem,  following  up  these  exercises 
with  other  proceedings  of  which  a  detailed  account  is 
unnecessary. 

The  present  students  of  Harvard  have  more  civil 
ized  modes  of  recreation.  I  hear  of  art  clubs,  and  of 
societies  which  take  pleasure  in  essays  upon  political 
economy  and  scientific  research.  I  find,  too,  that 
some  things  are  allowed  which  would  have  been 
thought  scandalous  by  the  wise  men  of  the  past. 
What  would  our  college  authorities  have  said  about 
permitting  students  to  give  theatrical  exhibitions  in 
a  public  hall  ?  What  deductions  of  degeneracy  would 
they  not  have  drawn,  had  they  been  told  that  such 
a  stigma  as  this  would  ever  be  attached  to  their  cher- 

o 


40  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

ished  institution  ?  Well,  every  age  is  apt  to  arrange 
the  virtues  on  a  scale  of  its  own,  and  to  be  becom 
ingly  shocked  when  they  get  joggled  out  of  place. 
The  students  of  to-day  have  undoubtedly  pleasures 
which  a  moral  philosopher  would  pronounce  superior 
to  the  rude  sports  of  their  grandfathers.  But  for 
rough,  tumultuous  fun,  for  a  glorious  abandonment 
en  masse  of  the  irksome  restraints  of  social  life,  they 
are  (fortunately,  of  course)  more  than  sixty  years  too 
late.  They  know  not  what  it  was  to  run  to  a  fire 
with  the  old  Harvard  tub. 


IV. 


FEW  realize  that  college  life  sixty  years  ago  was 
just  a  year  longer  than  it  is  now.  Cambridge  was 
not  deserted  during  the  vacation  ;  while  at  present 
from  July  to  October  everybody  is  off  and  all  the 
rooms  are  vacant.  The  students'  apartments  of  my 
day  were  not  so  attractive  that  one  would  wish  to 
linger  in  them.  I  cannot  remember  a  single  room 
which  had  carpet,  curtain,  or  any  pretence  of  orna 
ment.  In  a  few  of  them  were  hung  some  very  poor 
prints,  representing  the  four  seasons,  •emblematical 
representations  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  im 
aginative  devices  of  a  similar  nature.  Our  light 
came  from  dipped  candles,  with  very  broad  bases 
and  gradually  narrowing  to  the  top.  These  required 
the  constant  use  of  snuffers,  —  a  circumstance  which 


HARVARD   SIXTY   YEARS   AGO.  41 

hindered  application  to  an  extent  that  in  these  days 
of  kerosene  and  gas  can  scarcely  be  appreciated. 
Indeed,  the  dual  brain  with  which  mankind  are  fur 
nished  seemed  to  us  to  show  intelligent  design,  not 
less  than  the  famous  illustrations  presented  by  Paley. 
One  brain  was  clearly  required  to  do  the  studying, 
while  it  was  the  business  of  the  other  to  watch  the 
candles  and  look  after  the  snuffers. 

Our  fuel  was  wood,  which  was  furnished  by  the 
college  ;  it  being  cut  from  some  lands  in  Maine  which 
were  among  its  possessions,  and  brought  to  the  wharf 
in  the  college  sloop,  the  "  Harvard."  This  arrange 
ment  was  supposed  to  cause  a  great  saving,  and  the 
authorities  naturally  prided  themselves  upon  the 
sagacity  which  made  this  Eastern  property  so  pro 
ductive.  It  was  not  until  Dr.  Bowditch,  the  great 
mathematician,  was  given  a  place  in  the  government 
that  this  arrangement  was  quietly  abandoned.  This 
eminent  gentleman  —  perhaps  from  his  natural  ap 
titude  for  figures  —  succeeded  in  demonstrating  to 
his  associates  that  it  would  be  much  cheaper  for 
the  college  to  buy  wood  from  the  dearest  dealer 
than  to  cut  it  on  its  own  lands  and  transport  it  in 
its  own  sloop.  It  is  strange  how  long-established 
methods  of  obtaining  the  necessaries  of  life  will  con 
tinue,  when  a  little  thought  will  show  that  better 
ones  may  be  substituted. 

When  speaking  just  now  of  the  decoration  (or 
absence  of  decoration)  of  college  rooms,  I  ought  to 
have  noticed  one  significant  exception.  My  classmate, 
Otis,  had  ornamented  his  mantelpiece  with  two  curi- 


42  FIGURES   OF   THE   PASI 

ous  black  stones,  which  excited  great  interest  in  his 
visitors.  He  had  made  a  journey  to  Washington,  to 
see  his  father,  who  was  a  Senator ;  and  had  brought 
these  rarities  home,  as  precious  memorials  of  his 
travels.  He  had  a  strange  tale  to  tell  concerning 
them.  It  seemed  that  the  people  in  Baltimore  actu 
ally  burned  just  such  stories  as  these  ;  and,  wonderful 
to  relate,  there  was  no  smoke  in  their  chimneys.  I 
believe  that  these  singular  minerals  have  become  so 
popular  in  Harvard  College  that  they  are  now  brought 
there  in  considerable  quantities.  The  only  change  is 
that  they  are  no  longer  displayed  on  the  mantelpiece, 
but  just  below  it  —  in  the  grate.  They  will  be  rec 
ognized  under  the  name  of  anthracite  coal. 

There  were  two  college  clubs,  to  which  admission 
depended  on  scholarship.  These  were  the  Hasty 
Pudding  and  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa.  In  the  former 
there  were  nominally  an  essay  and  a  discussion  at 
every  meeting.  In  reality  there  was  nothing  of 
the  sort.  There  were  pudding  and  molasses,  and 
nothing  more.  The  latter,  with  the  exception  of  its 
annual  dinner,  had  no  meetings  whatever,  except  those 
necessary  to  receive  new  members ;  but  it  possessed 
the  attraction  of  being  a  secret  society,  and  we  were 
solemnly  sworn  never  to  reveal  the  mighty  mysteries 
that  were  confided  to  us  at  the  ceremony  of  initia 
tion.  During  the  great  anti-Masonic  excitement 
John  Quincy  Adams  brought  it  to  pass  that  all 
pledges  of  secrecy  were  removed,  by  a  formal  vote 
of  the  society ;  so  that  I  am  perfectly  free  to  expose 
all  its  mysteries,  could  I  only  remember  what  they 


HARVARD    SIXTY   YEARS   AGO.  43 

were.  The  secret  of  the  brilliant  annual  dinners  of 
the  Phi  Beta,  under  the  presidencies  of  Edward 
Everett,  Judge  Story,  Judge  Warren,  and  others, 
lies  near  the  surface.  It  was  very  difficult  for  out 
siders  to  gain  admission,  so  that  the  company  was 
one  in  which  distinguished  men  were  willing  to  un 
bend.  Add  to  this  —  as  the  secret  within  the  secret 
—  that  we  were  absolutely  secured  against  reporters. 

There  were  other  associations,  known  as  "  blowing 
clubs,"  in  connection  with  which  drunkenness  was 
exhibited  with  a  publicity  that  would  not  now  be 
tolerated.  One  of  these  societies  —  which  is  yet  in 
existence,  though  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  habits' 
of  its  members  have  improved  —  was  wont  to  have 
a  dinner  on  exhibition  days.  After  the  exercises  in 
the  chapel,  the  brethren  would  march  to  Porter's 
tavern,  preceded  by  a  full  band  ;  and  the  attempt 
was  made  to  return  in  the  same  way.  First  would 
come  the  band,  the  only  steady  part  of  the  show, 
whose  music  attracted  a  crowd  of  lookers-on.  Then 
came,  reeling  and  swaying  from  side  to  side,  a  mass  of 
bacchanals,  in  all  stages  of  intoxication.  That  this 
disgraceful  sight  should  have  been  tolerated  by  the 
college  authorities  will  seem  surprising  to  those  who 
fail  to  realize  the  radical  and  beneficent  change  in 
public  sentiment  which  has  taken  place.  To  abstain 
entirely  from  alcoholic  liquors  —  the  only  safe  course 
for  the  young,  and  probably  for  the  old  also  —  was 
then  considered  a  priggish  and  ridiculous  asceticism. 
"When  you  get  where  you  can't  stop,  Pat,  be  sure 
you  hold  up ! "  said  an  Irishman  to  his  friend,  who 


44  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

was  running  down  a  hill,  with  a  precipice  at  the 
bottom  of  it.  Some  such  advice  as  this  may  have 
been  given  to  the  young  fellows  who  were  hastening 
to  their  doom.  But  the  customs  of  the  time  were  all 
in  favor  of  indulgence  in  strong  drink.  Liquor  was 
openly  sold  from  booths  upon  public  days,  and  it  was 
even  supposed  that  an  occasional  debauch  was  bene 
ficial  to  the  health.  Some  of  the  victims  were  men 
of  most  generous  character  and  of  brilliant  intelli 
gence.  All  honor  to  the  temperance  party  which  has 
brought  authority  —  physiological,  religious,  and  social 
—  to  the  rebuke  of  this  monstrous  evil. 

But,  among  college  clubs,  the  place  of  honor  must 
be  reserved  for  the  Med.  Fac.  (so  abbreviated  from 
Medical  Faculty),  a  roaring  burlesque  upon  learned 
bodies  in  general  and  the  college  government  in  par 
ticular.  In  this  association  was  to  be  found  some  of 
the  most  excellent  fooling  that  I  have  ever  met.  We 
had  regular  meetings,  conducted  with  mock  decorum, 
at  each  of  which  a  pseudo  professor  delivered  a  lecture 
on  some  topic  of  medical  interest.  I  remember  a 
capital  discourse  pronounced  by  my  chum,  Stetson, 
on  the  science  of  osteology.  He  began  with  the 
famous  De  mortuis  nil  nisi  lonum,  which  he  asserted 
to  be  a  medical  aphorism,  meaning  "  You  can  get 
nothing  from  dead  men  but  their  bones."  From  this 
text  he  went  on,  with  professorial  gravity  of  manner, 
piling  absurdities  upon  one  another  in  a  way  that 
was  simply  irresistible.  Those  who  knew  this  excel 
lent  man  as  the  Rev.  Caleb  Stetson  will  remember 
how  difficult  it  was  for  him  to  keep  his  rich  sense 


HARVARD    SIXTY  YEARS   AGO.  45 

of  humor  under  due  professional  restraint.  But  as 
orator  of  the  Med.  Fac.  there  was  no  conventional 
fence  to  girdle  in  his  honest  love  of  fun,  and  it  shone 
out  brightly,  before  suffering  partial  eclipse  behind 
the  sacred  desk. 

The  Medical  Faculty  were  accustomed  to  issue 
diplomas  and  honorary  degrees,  in  imitation  of  those 
dispensed  by  college  officers.  All  sorts  of  queer 
people  were  made  the  recipients  of  these  distinctions, 
and  their  names  were  at  one  time  published  in  a 
catalogue,  each  being  loaded  with  cabalistic  letters, 
after  the  manner  of  those  honored  by  academic 
bodies.  Among  these  diplomas  one  was  sent  to 
the  Emperor  of  Eussia,  informing  that  potentate 
that  he  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Medical 
Faculty  of  Harvard  College.  The  affair  was  en 
grossed  upon  parchment  and  got  up  in  splendid 
style.  It,  moreover,  gave  a  full  list  of  the  honorary 
distinctions  which  had  been  graciously  bestowed 
upon  the  monarch  on  the  occasion  of  his  admission. 
Just  what  came  of  this  piece  of  audacity  I  cannot 
say  with  any  certainty;  but  the  report  was  circulated 
and  believed  that  in  due  time  a  fine  surgical  library 
arrived,  consigned  to  the  care  of  the  authorities  of 
the  college.  This  they  were  requested  to  make 
over  to  their  Medical  Faculty,  with  the  grateful 
acknowledgments  of  their  good  brother,  the  Emperor. 
Whether  such  an  incident  ever  occurred  is  perhaps 
doubtful.  If  it  did,  the  authorities  may  have  thought 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  the  best  thing  to  be 
done  was  to  keep  dark  and  to  keep  the  books.  But, 


46  FIGUKES   OF   THE   PAST. 

if  there  is  any  question  whether  our  library  was  con 
fiscated,  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  Medical 
Faculty  was  summarily  broken  up  about  the  time 
that  despatches  were  due  from  their  august  member 
in  St.  Petersburg.  From  some  cause  or  other,  the 
government  suddenly  acted  with  immense  energy, 
and  asserted  that  monopoly  in  the  matter  of  con 
ferring  degrees  which  has  since  been  maintained. 

Under  the  date  of  April  26,  1821,  I  find  recorded 
in  my  journal  the  impressions  made  upon  me  by  the 
oratory  of  Daniel  Webster.  He  was  at  that  time 
thirty-nine  years  old,  and  had  scarcely  touched  the 
maturity  of  his  remarkable  powers.  The  occasion 
was  one  of  surpassing  interest.  James  Prescott, 
judge  of  the  probate  of  wills,  was  impeached  before 
the  Senate  of  Massachusetts,  sitting  as  a  high  court 
of  judicature.  The  trial  was  conducted  under  forms 
similar  to  those  used  in  the  famous  prosecution  of 
Warren  Hastings.  Indeed,  the  whole  proceeding 
seemed  like  a  provincial  copy  of  that  absorbing  case ; 
with  this  difference,  however,  that  the  great  orators 
were  retained  for  the  defence,  instead  of  the  prose 
cution.  Daniel  Webster,  Samuel  Hoar,  William 
Prescott,  Samuel  Hubbard,  —  the  flower  of  the  Bos 
ton  bar,  —  appeared  in  behalf  of  Prescott.  Articles 
of  impeachment  had  been  found  by  the  House  of 
Representatives,  which  adjourned  to  be  present  at  the 
case.  This  popular  body  was  represented  by  mana 
gers,  as  were  the  Commons  of  England  in  the  prose 
cution  of  Hastings.  When  Webster  was  to  make 
his  final  plea,  the  galleries  were  crowded  with  ladies, 


HARVARD   SIXTY  YEARS   AGO.  47 

the  floor  was  packed  by  such  fragment  of  the  crowd 
as  could  gain  admission,  and  it  might  almost  be  said 
that  the  pulse  of  the  community  stopped,  from  the 
excitement  of  the  moment. 

By  some  extraordinary  good  fortune,  or  perhaps 
favoritism,  I  found  myself  in  one  of  the  best  seats  in 
that  thronged  assembly.  On  either  side  of  me  were 
personages  of  no  less  importance  than  President  Kirk- 
land  and  Harrison  Gray  Otis.  This  was  much  as 
if  a  student  of  Columbia  College  should  find  himself 
sitting  between  Secretary  Evarts  and  Cardinal  Mc- 
Closkey  on  an  occasion  of  great  public  interest.  No, 
it  would  not  be  the  same  thing,  after  all ;  for  none  of 
the  conspicuous  men  of  to-day  tower  so  majestically 
above  the  rest  of  the  world  as  their  predecessors  seemed 
to  rise  above  the  smaller  communities  which  were 
subject  unto  them.  But  how  can  the  triumphs  of  the 
orator  be  represented  upon  paper  ?  It  can  be  said 
only  that  Webster  spoke  for  nearly  four  hours,  and 
held  the  great  assembly  breathless  under  his  spell. 
I  have  noted  in  rny  journal  the  singular  pathos  of  his 
conclusion.  After  exclaiming  that  no  man  had  dared 
to  come  into  that  court  to  accuse  his  client  of  giving 
a  wrong  judgment,  he  turned  suddenly  upon  one  of 
the  managers,  and  demanded  whether,  should  God 
summon  him  to  his  account  that  very  night,  he  would 
not  leave  the  world  in  perfect  confidence  that  the  in 
terest  of  his  children  would  be  safe  in  the  hands  of 
the  upright  judge  against  whom  his  impeachment 
had  been  brought.  The  words  in  themselves  are  no 
more  than  the  libretto  of  an  opera ;  but,  with  Web- 


48  FIGUEES   OF   THE   PAST. 

ster  behind  them,  they  seemed  to  sweep  away  all 
adverse  testimony,  and  to  render  an  acquittal  by 
acclamation  a  simple  necessity.  It  is,  undoubtedly, 
to  the  credit  of  the  independence  of  the  court  that 
Judge  Prescott  was  not  acquitted  on  all  the  counts 
of  the  indictment ;  but  to  have  heard  the  noble  effort 
made  in  his  behalf  by  Daniel  Webster  marked  an 
epoch  in  the  lives  of  those  present.  It  gave  me  my 
first  idea  of  the  electric  force  that  might  be  wielded 
by  a  master  of  human  speech. 


COMMENCEMENT  DAY  IN   1821. 


OIXTY  years  ago  Commencement  Day  was  a  State 
~  holiday.  The  banks  were  closed,  business  was 
pretty  generally  suspended,  and  numbers  of  sightseers 
repaired  to  Cambridge,  as  their  ancestors  had  been  ac 
customed  to  do  a  hundred  years  before.  The  college 
exercises  were  held,  as  they  had  been  for  a  century,  in 
the  old  Congregational  meeting-house  ;  and  the  build 
ing  was  by  no  means  ill-adapted  to  this  purpose. 
The  galleries,  which  sloped  at  an  angle  of  about  forty- 
five  degrees,  displayed  to  great  advantage  the  beautiful 
and  fashionably  dressed  ladies  with  which  they  were 
crowded.  At  the  end  of  each  of  the  four  aisles  a 
wooden  desk  was  erected,  and  from  these  forensics 
had  formerly  been  read.  The  speakers,  of  course, 
delivered  their  parts  from  the  platform.  The  stu 
dents  belonging  to  Boston  families  of  wealth  gave 
elaborate  parties  in  honor  of  the  occasion.  These 
were  frequented  by  all  the  strangers  who  happened 
to  be  in  town,  and  advertised  the  college  in  a  way 
that  was  thought  useful.  Indeed,  the  government 
were  accused  of  giving  parts  to  inferior  scholars, 
whose  sumptuous  entertainments  would  be  likely  to 
lend  dignity  to  the  day. 

4 


50  FIGURED   OF   THE   PAST. 

The  account  of  the  conclusion  of  my  college  life 
shall  be  copied  just  as  it  stands  written  in  my  diary. 
I  need  not  apologize  for  any  crudities  or  egotism 
which  may  be  found  in  the  wholly  private  records  of 
a  youth  who  was  legally  a  minor. 

"July  16,  1821.  —  Attended  a  dissertation  of  Em 
erson's  in  the  morning  on  the  subject  of  Ethical 
Philosophy.  I  found  it  long  and  dry.  In  the  after 
noon  we  went  to  our  last  lecture  on  exhilarating  gas. 
Gorham  fought,  Dinsmore  danced,  Curtis  laughed, 
and  Bunker  swore,  according  as  the  ruling  passion 
swayed  their  breasts.  In  the  evening  I  paid  my  last 
visit  to  the  Miss  Hills.  In  the  afternoon,  went  to 
the  President  and  got  my  dissertation,  which  he  had 
mislaid.  He  was  quite  facetious,  for  I  had  painted 
my  coat  against  the  wall.  This  is  the  last  evening 
we  spend  in  college.  May  I  never  look  back  upon 
it  with  regret  I  It  strikes  eleven,  and  I  must  go  to 
bed. 

"July  17th.  —  At  nine  in  the  morning  I  read  my 
dissertation,  and  it  had  the  good  fortune  to  please  our 
college  critics.  At  half  past  ten  we  assembled  at 
Keating's  room,  and  marched  from  there  to  the  Pres 
ident's,  and  escorted  him,  with  the  rest  of  the  govern 
ment,  to  the  chapel,  where  Barnwell  and  Emerson 
performed  our  valedictory  exercises  before  all  the 
scholars  and  a  number  cf  ladies.  They  were  rather 
poor  and  did  but  little  honor  to  the  class.  We  re 
turned  with  the  President  to  his  house  immediately 
after  the  exercises.  At  one  o'clock  all  those  who 
were  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  detwrs  went  to  the 


COMMENCEMENT   DAY   IN    1821.  5l 

President  to  receive  them.  There  were  but  eighteen 
who  got  them.  I  had  Westall's  edition  of  '  Young's 
Night  Thoughts,'  one  of  the  best  books  that  was  given 
out.  At  two  we  marched  down  to  Porter's,  where 
we  had  a  fine  dinner.  After  the  cloth  was  removed, 
Mr.  Gushing  [afterward  well  known  as  Hon.  Caleb 
Gushing]  came  in,  and  gave  for  a  toast :  '  The  bands  of 
friendship,  which  always  tighten  when  they  are  wet.' 
After  he  had  gone,  Wood  delivered  an  oration,  which 
was  very  witty  and  appropriate  ;  and  then  Alden  re 
hearsed  the  woes  and  pleasures  of  college  life  in  his 
usual  style.  There  were  a  number  of  original  songs 
sung :  Alden  sung  one  much  to  the  amusement  of  us 
all.  When  we  had  all  drunk  our  skins  full,  we 
marched  round  to  all  the  professors'  houses,  danced 
round  the  Eebellion  and  Liberty  Trees,  and  then  re 
turned  to  the  hall.  A  great  many  of  the  class  were 
half-seas-over,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  supporting 
one  of  them.  This  was  as  hard  work  as  I  ever  desire 
to  do.  Many  ladies  came  to  witness  our  dancing,  and 
were  much  scandalized  by  the  elevation  of  spirit 
which  some  exhibited.  We  parted  with  more  grief 
than  any  class  J.  ever  saw,  every  one  of  us  being 
drowned  in  tears.  Had  I  been  told  that  I  should 
have  felt  so  much,  I  should  have  laughed  at  the  idea. 
When  it  came  to  the  point,  however,  I  cried  like  the 
rest  of  them.  In  the  evening  Frank  Lowell  and  I 
went  over  to  Mr.  John  Lowell's,  where  we  had  a 
very  pleasant  time.  Mr,s  Eliza  S—  -  looked  pret 
tier  and  talked  better  than  I  ever  knew  her  to 
before. 


52  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

"August  29,  1821,  Commencement  Day. — In  the 
morning  I  went  to  prayers,  to  hear  Mr.  Gushing 
pray ;  for  it  is  always  customary  for  the  particular 
tutor  of  the  graduating  class  to  perform  that  duty  on 
Commencement  morning.  He  read  us  an  account  of 
the  fall  of  Babylon  and  of  the  emancipation  of  the 
oppressed  Jews.  This  seemed  very  applicable  to  our 
escape  from  the  government,  though  I  do  not  believe 
he  ever  thought  of  it.  His  prayer  was  short  and 
not  impressive.  About  eight  o'clock  the  ladies  came 
over;  and  I  got  them  into  the  meeting-house  by 
opening  the  door  while  the  sexton  was  away,  for 
which  I  had  a  good  scolding  on  his  return.  That, 
however,  was  but  a  small  matter.  I  then  went  to 
Mr.  Higginson's,  and  returned  to  wait  on  the  ladies. 
The  house  was  full  of  very  beautiful  women,  and 
every  one  who  spoke  paid  them  some  compliment  or 
other ;  but  most  of  them  were  rather  lame  ones.  Hill 
Second,  Sampson  Eeed  in  the  master's  oration,  Bur 
ton,  and  Leverett  were  very  pathetic  toward  them. 

A  Miss ,  from  Salem,  attracted  much  attention 

on  account  of  the  beauty  of  her  neck ;  and  she,  to 
oblige  admirers,  wore  no  rutrles.  All  the  Amorys, 
Sullivans,  Crowninshields,  with  long  et  cetcras,  filled 
the  house.  After  the  exercises,  which  were  very 
short,  I  went  over  to  Porter's,  where  all  the  relations 
of  our  family  were  assembled.  They  appeared  grati 
fied  with  my  performance.  We  had  a  very  handsome 
dinner ;  and  after  it  was  over  the  Governor,  Council, 
and  all  the  great  and  learned  men,  both  friends  and 
strangers,  came  in  and  took  wine  with  us.  They  all 


COMMENCEMENT   DAY   IN   1821.  53 

complimented  me  on  my  success,  — in  part  payment, 
I  suppose,  for  the  wine  which  they  drank.  Among 
my  relations  was  Mrs.  Storer,  who  is  eighty-six  years 
old,  and  who  attended  the  Commencements  of  my 
father  and  grandfather.  She  seemed  to  enjoy  the 
day  as  highly  as  anybody.  We  visited  Mrs.  Farrar, 
after  our  company  had  gone,  and  found  there  many 
young  ladies,  in  addition  to  all  the  gentlemen  who 
had  visited  us.  In  the  evening  my  sisters  and  my 
self  went  to  Mr.  Otis's  great  ball  (given  in  honor  of 
the  graduation  of  his  son),  and  there  we  enjoyed  our 
selves  highly.  It  was  nearly  twelve  o'clock  before 
we  returned.  Thus  ends  my  college  life.  I  must 
now  begin  the  world." 

I  will  conclude  this  account  of  my  connection  with 
Harvard  College  by  alluding  briefly  to  my  final  ap 
pearance  as  a  pupil  of  that  institution.  This  was  on 
the  occasion  of  my  taking  a  master's  degree.  Now 
this  same  degree  was  at  that  time  given  in  regular 
course  to  every  one  who  had  been  three  years  out  of 
college  and  who  chose  to  pay  for  it.  A  man  might 
have  forgotten  the  little  he  had  learned,  and  have 
failed  to  acquire  any  new  knowledge  to  take  its  place, 
he  was  still  entitled  to  be  proclaimed  master  of  arts 
on  the  simple  condition  above  specified.  The  change 
of  policy,  which  now  requires  a  serious  examination 
to  be  passed  before  this  degree  can  be  conferred,  is 
one  of  the  many  beneficial  reforms  which  later  times 
have  instituted. 

It  was  formerly  the  custom  for  at  least  two  of  the 
candidates  for  the  master's  degree  to  be  assigned  parts 


54  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

at  Commencement.  An  oration  in  English  and  a 
Latin  valedictory  were  commonly  spoken  by  three- 
year  graduates.  A  few  days  before  the  Commence 
ment  of  1824  I  received  a  letter  from  President 
Kirkland,  in  which  he  said  that  the  person  to  whom 
the  valedictory  had  been  assigned  had  not  put  in  an 
appearance,  and  nobody  knew  where  he  was  to  be 
found.  This  was  William  Withington,  a  classmate  of 
mine  and  an  excellent  scholar,  but  somewhat  awkward 
in  his  manner  and  with  small  gifts  as  a  speaker.  As 
my  rank  in  the  class  entitled  me  to  succeed  the  miss 
ing  Withington,  the  President  begged  me  to  prepare 
a  Latin  discourse  without  more  ado ;  for  it  was  to  be 
a  great  day  for  the  college,  as  General  Lafayette  was 
to  be  present.  It  may  be  that  the  graduates  of  our 
colleges  to-day  are  capable  of  breaking  into  the  dead 
languages  at  a  moment's  notice ;  but  certain  it  is  that 
the  instruction  that  was  to  be  had  sixty  years  ago 
did  not  communicate  this  desirable  facility.  To 
comply  with  the  President's  request  would  have  been 
simply  impossible,  had  it  not  been  for  an  important 
package  which  accompanied  his  letter.  This  con 
tained  a  number  of  Latin  compositions  adapted  to 
academic  festivals.  They  had  evidently  been  usei 
•vith  some  freedom  by  past  orators ;  but,  as  they  had 
never  been  reported  and  as  the  bulk  of  the  audiences 
did  not  understand  a  word  of  them,  they  were  as 
bright  and  fresh  as  ever.  It  was  evidently  the  in 
tention  of  Dr.  Kirkland  that  this  useful  literature 
should  be  largely  drawn  upon  in  preparing  the  vale 
dictory.  The  conventional  compliments  to  governors, 


COMMENCEMENT  DAY   IN   1821.  55 

magistrates,  and  others  in  authority  were  as  good  as 
ever.  The  only  thing  to  be  done  was  to  add  some 
original  sentences  applicable  to  the  nation's  guest, 
and  then  to  recast,  as  well  as  my  limited  time 
allowed  me  to  do,  the  matter  which  had  been  so 
thoughtfully  furnished. 

My  reminiscences  of  Lafayette,  whom  I  afterward 
had  the  privilege  of  seeing  intimately,  do  not  belong 
in  this  paper.     My  present  concern  is  with  Com 
mencement  Day  at  Harvard.     The  galleries  of  the 
venerable   meeting-house   had    been    thronged   with 
ladies  from  an  early  hour  in  the  morning.     But  the 
General,  who  had   to  be  received  at  almost   every 
cross-road,  was   waylaid  at  Cambridgeport,  where  a 
triumphal  arch  had  been  erected  in  his  honor.     Here 
addresses  and  replies  must  be  exchanged,  so  that  he 
was  some  hours  behind  time  on  reaching  the  colleges. 
Notwithstanding  the  expectant  and  wearied  audience 
which  was  waiting  in  the  meeting-house,  the  Presi 
dent  did  not  see  fit  to  omit  his  address  of  welcome, 
which  was  delivered  from  the  porch  which  then  stood 
in  front  of   University   Hall.     The  General's  reply 
was   brief,  and   concluded  with   a  Latin  quotation, 
which,  being  given  with  the  European  pronunciation 
of  that  language,  was  not  understood.     At  length  the 
procession  was  formed  and  proceeded  to  the  meeting 
house,  and  the  most  memorable  Commencement  ex 
ercises  which  those  old  walls  had  ever  witnessed  were 
begun,  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

To  describe  the  enthusiasm  that  greeted  the  guest 
of  the  day  is  simply  impossible.     Those  who  felt  it 


56  FIGURES   OF   THE  PAST. 

—  those  who  were  lifted  up  by  it  —  knew  that  it 
was  a  unique  experience  of  which  nothing  adequate 
could  be  said.  Lafayette  was  seated  in  a  conspicuous 
place  upon  the  platform.  Most  of  the  speakers  al 
luded  in  some  way  to  his  presence,  and  so  permitted 
the  repressed  rapture  to  burst  forth.  Never  was 
homage  so  unbounded,  so  heartfelt,  so  spontaneous. 
It  was  as  if  one  of  the  great  heroes  of  history  had 
been  permitted  to  return  to  earth.  The  exercises 
were  all  good ;  but  the  oration  by  Edward  B.  Emer 
son,  the  first  scholar  of  the  year,  and  the  master's 
oration  by  my  classmate,  Upham,  were  probably  as 
fine  performances  as  have  ever  been  given  at  a  Har 
vard  Commencement.  Both  these  young  men  reached 
the  level  of  the  occasion;  and  what  more  can  be 
said?  The  valedictory,  of  course,  came  last,  and  I 
felt  rather  awkward  in  rising  to  declaim  my  stilted 
Latin  phrases  before  an  audience  which  had  been 
stirred  by  such  vigorous  English.  The  first  part  of 
my  performance  consisted  of  mere  phrases  of  rhe 
torical  compliment  thrown  out  at  creation  in  general. 
I  rolled  them  out  as  well  as  I  could ;  but  they  seemed 
neither  stimulating  nor,  in  fact,  comprehensible  to 
the  audience.  But  the  inevitable  allusion  came  at 
last.  I  had  drifted  among  the  heroes  of  the  Eevo- 
lution,  and  suddenly  turned  to  the  General  with  my 
In  te  quoque,  Lafayette  I  —  and  then  what  an  uproar 
drowned  the  rest  of  the  sentence!  "  Why,  sir,  do  you 
know,  the  pit  rose  at  me ! "  said  Edmund  Kean,  after 
his  first  performance  of  Shylock  at  Drury  Lane.  The 
expression  of  the  player  is  perhaps  as  good  as  any- 


COMMENCEMENT   DAY  IN   1821.  57 

thing  I  can  borrow  to  indicate  the  scene  before  me. 
The  entire  audience  upon  the  floor  had  sprung  to 
their  feet ;  the  ladies  in  the  galleries  were  standing 
also,  and  were  waving  their  handkerchiefs  with  im 
passioned  ardor.  It  was  the  last  opportunity  which 
the  day  was  to  offer  to  pay  homage  to  the  guest  of 
America,  and,  as  if  by  one  consent,  it  was  improved 
to  the  utmost.  I  could  not  but  share  the  excite 
ment  provoked  by  the  magic  name  I  had  uttered, 
and  was  scarcely  responsible  for  the  concluding  sen 
tences. 

And  thus  my  connection  with  Harvard  College 
came  to  an  end,  —  a  satisfactory  conclusion,  truly, 
were  it  not  for  the  awkward  confession  that  I  was 
not  the  man  to  whom  that  most  memorable  of  vale 
dictories  rightfully  belonged.  It  was  by  reason  of 
the  generosity  or  misfortune  of  my  classmate,  Wil 
liam  Withington,  that  I  took  leave  of  Cambridge  in 
a  manner  so  agreeable. 


KEMINISCENCES   OF   THE   SECOND 
PRESIDENT. 


IV  /TY  earliest  recollections  of  the  second  President 
-LTX  g0  ]-)ac],  t0  tne  tjme  w}ien?  as  a  child^  hardly 

more  than  five  years  old,  I  used  to  gaze  upon  him  in 
the  Quincy  meeting-house.  I  have  a  perfect  remem 
brance  of  his  being  pointed  out  to  me  by  my  father, 
who  told  me  that  I  must  be  sure  to  remember  him, 
as  he  was  an  old  man  and  could  not  be  with  us  long. 
It  was,  of  course,  not  supposed  that  he  would  attain 
the  great  and  exceptional  age  which  he  reached,  and 
that  I  should  have  the  privilege  of  frequent  associa 
tion  with  him  for  so  many  years.  I  remember  gazing 
at  him  with  the  wondering  eyes  of  a  child,  and  mar 
velling  why  he  was  called  "  President,"  and  why  he 
was  considered  better  worth  seeing  than  Captain  Bass 
and  the  other  old  men  of  the  village.  The  meeting 
house  in  Quincy,  so  associated  with  John  Adams, 
may  be  worth  a  brief  description.  I  have  no  distinct 
remembrance  of  the  building  previous  to  its  enlarge 
ment,  in  1806,  but  have  heard  its  appearance  previous 
to  that  date  often  described  by  Mr.  Adams  and  by 
members  of  my  own  family.  It  was  built  in  1731, 
and,  according  to  our  present  ideas,  was  queer  and 
comfortless.  The  body  of  the  house  was  occupied 


REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   SECOND    PRESIDENT.       59 

by  long  seats,  the  men  being  placed  on  one  side  of 
the  broad  aisle  and  the  women  on  the  other.  The 
oldest  inhabitants  were  always  seated  in  front.  "  I 
never  shall  forget/'  Mr.  Adams  once  said  to  me,  "  the 
rows  of  venerable  heads  ranged  along  those  front 
benches  which,  as  a  young  fellow,  I  used  to  gaze 
upon.  They  were  as  old  arid  gray  as  mine  is  now." 
The  deacons  were  accommodated  just  under  the  pulpit, 
while  the  sexton  had  a  bench  in  the  rear,  perhaps  to 
keep  a  watch  over  the  young  people  on  the  back 
seats.  One  of  the  oddest  things  about  the  church 
was  a  little  hole  high  up  in  the  wall,  through  which 
the  bell-ringer  might  be  seen  in  the  exercise  of  his 
vocation.  It  was  the  duty  of  this  functionary  to 
keep  his  eye  upon  the  congregation,  and  to  mark 
by  the  customary  tolling  the  arrival  of  the  minister. 
As  time  wore  on,  some  wall-pews  began  to  appear 
in  the  old  meeting-house.  These  were  built  by  in 
dividuals,  at  their  own  expense,  permission  having 
been  first  gained  by 'a  vote  of  the  town.  And  there 
are  curious  votes  upon  this  subject  in  the  early  rec 
ords.  On  one  occasion  it  was  voted  that  a  prominent 
personage  might  "build  him  a  pew  over  the  pulpit, 
provided  he  so  builds  as  not  to  darken  the  pulpit." 
And  a  friend  of  mine  here  suggests  that,  as  a  figure 
of  speech,  pews  may  now  be  said  to  be  built  over 
the  pulpit  with  some  frequency,  and  regrets  that  the 
good  divines  of  the  town,  whose  life-long  sway  was 
arbitrary  and  unquestioned,  did  not  have  the  wit  to 
prevent  that  perilous  permission.  For,  notwithstand 
ing  the  wholesome  caution  of  the  old  record,  it  has 


60  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

been  found  impossible  "  not  to  darken  the  pulpit " 
when  the  pews  are  placed  above  it. 

An  ancestor  of  mine  was  permitted  to  fence  off  the 
first  pew,  and  his  example  was  quickly  followed  by 
others.  This  was  a  recognition  of  caste  in  the  one 
place  where  men  should  meet  on  terms  of  perfect 
equality.  I  cannot  but  think  that  this  innovation 
upon  the  good  custom  of  our  forefathers  has  had  its 
effect  in  alienating  from  religious  services  a  large 
portion  of  our  population.  A  notable  addition  to 
the  Sunday  exercises  in  the  Quincy  meeting-house 
followed  the  introduction  of  the  pews ;  for  the  seats 
in  these  aristocratic  pens  were  upon  hinges,  and  were 
always  raised  during  the  long  prayer,  for  the  purpose 
of  allowing  those  who  stood  to  rest  themselves  by 
leaning  against  the  railing.  At.  the  conclusion  of 
the  devotion,  the  sudden  descent  of  all  the  seats 
sounded  like  a  volley  of  musketry,  and  was  a  source 
of  considerable  terror  to  those  who  heard  it  for  the 
first  time.  When  the  increase  of  population  rendered 
desirable  an  enlargement  of  the  meeting-house,  it 
was  sawed  through  the  middle ;  and,  the  two  halves 
being  separated,  an  addition  was  built  to  reunite 
them.  The  President's  pew  was  conspicuous  in  the 
reconstructed  edifice,  and  there  the  old  man  was  to 
be  seen  at  every  service.  An  air  of  respectful  defer 
ence  to  John  Adams  seemed  to  pervade  the  building. 
The  ministers  brought  their  best  sermons  when  they 
came  to  exchange,  and  had  a  certain  consciousness 
in  their  manner  as  if  officiating  before  royalty.  The 
medley  of  stringed  and  wind  instruments  in  the  gal- 


REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  SECOND   PRESIDENT.       61 

lery —  a  survival  of  the  sacred  trumpets  and  shawms 
mentioned  by  King  David  —  seemed  to  the  imagi 
nation  of  a  child  to  be  making  discord  together  in 
honor  of  the  venerable  chief  who  was  the  centre  of 
interest. 

When  I  was  about  six  years  old,  I  was  put  to 
school  to  the  Eev.  Peter  Whitney;  and,  spending 
the  winter  in  his  family,  was  often  asked  to  dine 
on  Sunday  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams.  This  was 
at  first  somewhat  of  an  ordeal  for  a  boy ;  but  the 
genuine  kindness  of  the  President,  who  had  not  the 
smallest  chip  of  an  iceberg  in  his  composition,  soon 
made  me  perfectly  at  ease  in  his  society.  With  Mrs. 
Adams  there  was  a  shade  more  formality.  A  con 
sciousness  of  age  and  dignity,  which  was  often  some 
what  oppressive,  was  customary  with  old  people  of 
that  day  in  the  presence  of  the  young.  Something 
of  this  Mrs.  Adams  certainly  had,  though  it  wore  off 
or  came  to  be  disregarded  by  me,  for  in  the  end  I 
was.  strongly  attached  to  her.  She  always  dressed 
handsomely,  and  her  rich  silks  and  laces  seemed  appro 
priate  to  a  lady  of  her  dignified  position  in  the  town. 
If  there  was  a  little  savor  of  patronage  in  the  generous 
hospitality  she  exercised  among  her  simple  neighbors, 
it  was  never  regarded  as  more  than  a  natural  empha 
sis  of  her  undoubted  claims  to  precedence.  The  aris 
tocratic  colonial  families  were  still  recognized,  for  the 
tide  of  democracy  had  not  risen  high  enough  to  cover 
these  distinctions.  The  parentage  and  descent  of 
Mrs.  Adams  were  undoubtedly  of  weight  in  estab 
lishing  her  position  ;  although,  as  we  now  look  at 


62  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

things,  the  strong  personal  claims  of  herself  and  hus 
band  would  seem  to  have  been  all  sufficient. 

I  well  remember  the  modest  dinners  at  the  Presi 
dent's,  to  which  I  brought  a  school-boy's  appetite. 
The  pudding,  generally  composed  of  boiled  corn-meal, 
always  constituted  the  first  course.  This  was  the 
custom  of  the  time,  —  it  being  thought  desirable  to 
take  the  edge  off  of  one's  hunger  before  reaching  the 
joint.  Indeed,  it  was  considered  wise  to  stimulate 
the  young  to  fill  themselves  with  pudding,  by  the 
assurance  that  the  boy  who  managed  to  eat  the  most 
of  it  should  be  helped  most  abundantly  to  the  meat, 
which  was  to  follow.  It  need  not  be  said  that  neither 
the  winner  nor  his  competitors  found  much  room  for 
meat  at  the  close  of  their  contest ;  and  so  the  domes 
tic  economy  of  the  arrangement  was  very  apparent. 
Miss  Smith,  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Adams,  was  an  inmate 
of  the  "^resident's  family,  and  one  of  these  ladies 
always  carved.  Mr.  Adams  made  his  contribution 
to  the  service  of  the  table  in  the  form  of  that  good- 
humored,  easy  banter,  which  makes  a  dinner  of  herbs 
more  digestible  than  is  a  stalled  ox  without  it.  At 
a  later  period  of  our  acquaintance,  I  find  preserved 
in  my  journals  frequent  though  too  meagre  reports 
of  his  conversation.  But  of  the  time  of  which  I  am 
writing  there  is  not  a  word  recoverable.  I  can  dis 
tinctly  picture  to  myself  a  certain  iron  spoon  which 
the  old  gentleman  once  fished  up  from  the  depths  of 
a  pudding  Jn  which  it  had  been  unwittingly  cooked  ; 
but  of  the  pleasant  things  he  said  in  those  easy  din 
ner-talks  no  trace  remains. 


REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   SECOND   PRESIDENT.       63 

I  have  mentioned  the  meeting-house  as  associated 
with  President  Adams,  and  as  giving  character  to  his 
native  town.  But  there  was  another  locality  in  Quincy 
which  was  a  still  more  interesting  resort  for  its  in 
habitants  ;  at  least,  during  the  earlier  portions  of  their 
lives.  Among  my  boyish  recollections  there  is  dis 
tinctly  visible  a  very  pretty  hill,  which  rose  from  the 
banks  of  the  river,  or  what  passed  for  one,  and  was 
covered  with  trees  of  the  original  forest  growth. 
This  was  known  as  Cupid's  Grove ;  and  it  had  been 
known  under  that  title  for  at  least  three  generations, 
and  perhaps  from  the  settlement  of  the  town.  The 
name  suggests  the  purposes  to  which  this  sylvan  spot 
was  dedicated.  It  was  the  resort  of  the  lovers  of  the 
vicinage,  or  of  those  who,  if  circumstances  favored, 
might  become  so.  The  trunks  of  the  trees  were  cut 
and  scarred  all  over  with  the  initials  of  ladies  who 
were  fair  and  beloved,  or  who  once  had  been  so ;  for 
it  was  then  the  fashion  to  pay  modest  maidens  a 
compliment  which  would  be  now  thought  in  very 
doubtful  taste.  But,  as  Shakespeare  makes  his  Or 
lando —  a  fine,  spirited  fellow  and  very  much  of  a 
gentleman  —  cut  the  name  of  Rosalind  upon  every 
available  bit  of  timber  in  the  forest  of  Arden,  it  will 
not  be  necessary  to  apologize  for  the  habits  of  my 
contemporaries  in  this'  respect.  It  is  sad  to  mention 
that  poor  Cupid  has  long  been  driven  from  his  sanc 
tuary,  which  has  suffered  violence  at  the  hands  of  his 
brother  god  of  heathendom,  who  has  so  often  gotten 
the  better  of  him.  Plutus  strode  by  that  humble 
hillock,  and  straightway  the  grove  was  cut  down 


64  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

and  sold  for  firewood ;  and  not  only  this,  but  the 
little  eminence  itself  was  purchased  for  its  gravel, 
and  under  that  form,  as  I  believe,  has  been  dumped 
upon  the  vulgar  highway.  The  fate  of  Cupid's  Grove 
is  typical  of  that  of  the  romance  which  was  associated 
with  places  of  this  nature  in  our  older  New  England 
towns.  In  the  days  when  there  were  no  public  libra 
ries,  no  travelling  operas,  no  theatre  trains,  —  when, 
in  fact,  the  one  distraction  of  the  week  was  going  to 
meeting,  —  who  can  wonder  that  the  flowery  paths 
leading  to  the  domestic  circle  were  more  frequented 
than  at  present  ? 

In  those  old  times  it  happened  that  a  certain  young 
lawyer,  named  John  Adams,  was  wont  to  visit  a  good 
deal  at  the  house  of  a  great-grandfather  of  mine,  who 
had  a  large  landed  estate  and  several  daughters ;  and 
the  family  tradition  is  that  one  of  these  ladies  was 
not  wholly  uninteresting  to  the  young  fellow,  who 
had  just  begun  his  struggle  with  the  world.  Just 
what  it  all  amounted  to  it  is  impossible  to  say,  at 
this  distance  of  time ;  neither  would  it  be  well  to 
say  it,  even  if  it  were  possible.  The  historical  facts 
are  that  my  great-aunt  married  Ebenezer  Storer  — 
a  gentleman  of  some  pretension,  who  was  for  forty 
years  treasurer  of  Harvard  College  —  and  that  young 
Adams  married  Miss  Abigail  Smith.  Eventful  years 
rolled  by,  and  I,  a  young  man,  just  entering  life,  was 
deputed  to  attend  my  venerable  relative  on  a  visit  to 
the  equally  venerable  ex-President.  Both  parties 
were  verging  upon  their  ninetieth  year.  They  had 
met  very  infrequently,  if  at  all,  since  the  days  of 


REMINISCENCES    OF   THE   SECOND   PRESIDENT.       65 

their  early  intimacy.  When  Mrs.  Storer  entered  the 
room,  the  old  gentleman's  face  lighted  up,  as  he  ex 
claimed,  with  ardor,  "  What !  Madam,  shall  we  not 
go  walk  in  Cupid's  Grove  together  ? ''  To  say  the 
truth,  the  lady  seemed  somewhat  embarrassed  by  this 
utterly  unlooked-for  salutation.  It  seemed  to  hurry 
her  back  through  the  past  with  such  rapidity  as  fairly 
to  take  away  her  breath.  But  self-possession  came  at 
last,  and  with  it  a  suspicion  of  girlish  archness,  as 
she  replied,  "  Ah,  sir,  it  would  not  be  the  first  time 
that  we  have  walked  there  ! " 

Perhaps  the  incident  is  not  worth  recording,  as 
there  is  really  no  way  of  getting  upon  paper  the 
suggesti veness  that  it  had  to  a  witness.  For  a  mo 
ment  the  burden  of  years  seemed  to  be  thrown  aside, 
and  the  vivacity  of  youth  reasserted  itself.  The  flash 
of  old  sentiment  was  startling  from  its  utter  unex 
pectedness.  I  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  copy 
from  my  journals  fragments  of  the  conversation  of 
this  distinguished  man  ;  but  I  can  give  nothing  which 
made  more  impression  upon  me  than  this  little  speech. 
It  is  the  sort  of  thing  which  sets  a  young  fellow  to 
thinking.  It  is  a  surprise  to  find  a  great  personage 
so  simple,  so  perfectly  natural,  so  thoroughly  human ; 
and  it  needs  but  a  little  reflection  to  discover  that  he 
is  great  because  —  among  more  obvious  reasons  —  he 
can  always  draw  upon  a  good  balance  of  these  homely, 
commonplace  qualities. 


VISITS  TO   JOHN  ADAMS. 


DUPJNG  the  last  five  years  of  the  life  of  John 
Adams  I  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  constant 
intercourse  with  him  during  the  summer  months. 
Several  times  a  week  I  went  to  his  house,  where  I 
frequently  read  aloud  to  him  or  acted  as  his  amanu 
ensis.  I  shall  give  some  gleanings  from  his  conver 
sations,  as  I  find  them  recorded  in  my  journals. 

"September?*,  1820.  —  Judge  Winston  and  Major 
Sornmerville,  gentlemen  from  the  South,  drove  out 
this  morning  and  stayed  with  us  some  time.  Then 
we  all  went  up  to  call  upon  President  Adams.  His 
visitors  asked  him  his  opinion  of  Patrick  Henry,  and 
whether  he  was  not  the  greatest  orator  he  had  ever 
heard.  His  reply  was:  'No,  gentlemen.  Much  of 
Wirt's  life  of  him  is  a  romance.  Why,  I  have  heard 
that  gentleman's  father  [pointing  to  one  who  was 
present]  speak  in  a  strain  of  eloquence  to  which  Pat 
rick  Henry  could  never  pretend.'  He  paused,  and 
then  added,  'You  know  Virginian  geese  are  always 
swans.'  Notwithstanding  these  remarks,  the  gentle 
men  seemed  very  much  pleased  with  their  visit." 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Wirt  himself,  and 
bearing  date  January  5, 1818, 1  find  that  Mr.  Adams's 


VISITS   TO   JOHN   ADAMS.  67 

testimony  is  the  same.  The  passage  is  characteris 
tic  enough  for  quotation.  He  writes :  "  James  Otis 
electrified  the  town  of  Boston,  the  Province  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,  and  the  whole  continent  more  than 
Patrick  Henry  ever  did  in  the  whole  course  of  his 
life.  If  we  must  have  panegyrics  and  hyperboles, 
I  must  say  that  if  Mr.  Henry  was  Demosthenes  and 
Mr.  Eichard  Henry  Lee  was  Cicero,  James  Otis  was 
Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  united." 

"November  2,  1821.  —  To-day  President  Adams 
walked  down  to  see  us  (the  distance  was  about  a 
mile),  and  arrived  a  little  before  noon.  He  gave  us 
an  account  of  his  early  law  life.  His  father  hoped 
he  would  be  a  clergyman;  but  the  nature  of  the 
doctrines  which  were  then  taught  repelled  him.  On 
leaving  college,  he  went  to  Worcester,  where  he  kept 
school  and  studied  law  at  the  same  time." 

From  the  journal  of  another  member  of  the  family 
I  quote  a  fuller  account  of  what  passed  at  this  visit. 

"  Mr.  Adams  talked  freely,  and  said :  '  After  I  left 
college,  I  came  home  to  Braintree,  to  see  my  friends ; 
and  then  went  to  Worcester,  to  keep  school  to  sup 
port  myself,  while  at  the  same  time  I  studied  law 
with  Judge  Putnam.  I  advise  every  young  man  to 
keep  school.  I  acquired  more  knowledge  of  human 
nature  while  I  kept  that  school  than  while  I  was  at 
the  bar,  than  while  I  was  in  the  world  of  politics  or 
at  the  Courts  of  Europe.  It  is  the  best  method  of 
acquiring  patience,  self-command,  and  a  knowledge 
of  character.  After  I  had  finished  my  studies,  I 
opened  an  office  in  Braintree,  and  lived  here  some 


68  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

years,  the  town  being  then  in  Suffolk  County.  The 
bar  was  then  crowded  with  eminent  lawyers.  I  re 
moved  to  Boston  for  two  or  three  years,  but  was 
so  overwhelmed  with  business  that  I  was  forced  to 
return  to  Braintree,  for  my  health.'  Mr.  Adams  spoke 
of  the  advantages  of  keeping  a  regular  journal,  and 
said  that  he  had  kept  one  during  the  four  years  of 
his  college  life,  which  he  had  foolishly  destroyed. 
He  would  now  give  anything  in  the  world  to  have 
it  again." 

To  go  back  a  little,  I  will  copy  my  entries  made 
on  September  27th,  in  the  same  year.  "  Mrs.  Head 
and  Miss  Tyrig  called  in  the  afternoon.  They  were 
full  of  complaints  of  the  love  which  ladies  in  this 
town  have  for  scandal.  In  the  evening  we  all  went 
up  to  President  Adams's,  where  the  fair  ones  of  Mil 
ton  and  Quincy  met  in  harmony..  We  had  quite  a 
pleasant  time,  dancing  to  the  piano —  not  in  the  most 
graceful  style  imaginable.  Miss  Helen  looked  beau 
tifully,  played  angelically,  and  talked  wisely.  Presi 
dent  Adams  gave  the  girls  a  fine  account  of  the 
ancient  belles  and  beaux  of  this  place.  And  as  future 
ages  will,  undoubtedly,  inquire  who  were  our  divini 
ties,  I  subjoin  a  catalogue.  To  posterity,  you  degen 
erate  race  that  will  be,  —  you  who  never  saw  Miss 
Lyman,  nor  Miss  Brooks,  nor  the  '  Panorama  of 
Athens/  —  know  that  in  the  town  of  Quincy,  at  the 
residence  of  President  Adams,  on  the  night  of  Sep 
tember  27th,  1821,  assembled  the  following  ladies : 
Miss  Duncan  and  two  Misses  Codman,  sojourners  at 
Mrs.  Black's ;  three  Misses  Marstoiis ;  Miss  Whitney ; 


VISITS    TO    JOHN   ADAMS.  69 

Miss  Apthorp  and  three  Greenleafs ;  Miss  Baxter 
and  Mrs.  Barney  Smith,  in  all  the  trappings  of- 
I  wonder  how  people  will  dress  seventy  years  from 
now.  I  will  leave  a  blank  here  for  any  gentle  reader 
of  that  period  to  write  down  the  mode.  Now  for  all 
these  ladies  there  were  but  six  gentlemen,  —  the  three 
Adamses,  George  Whitney,  Mr.  Smith,  and  myself." 

"August  26,  1822.  —  George  Otis  dined  with  me/ 
and  in  the  afternoon  Sarn.  Phillips,  of  Andover,  ar 
rived  to  spend  the  night.  In  the  evening  I  accom 
panied  him  to  the  President's,  and  found  the  old 
gentleman  well  and  lively.  Speaking  of  the  contro 
versy  between  Dr.  Stewart,  of  Andover,  and  Mr. 
Miller,  of  New  York,  concerning  the  eternal  genera 
tion  of  the  Son,  he  became  quite  eloquent,  censuring 
the  idea  as  inconceivable  and  impious.  The  conver 
sation  passed  to  his  son,  John  Quincy  Adams,  of 
whom  his  father  said,  'He  has  a  very  hard,  laborious, 
and  unhappy  life ;  though  he  is  envied  by  half  the 
people  in  the  United  States  for  his  talents  and  sit 
uation.'  Speaking  of  the  navy,  he  said  that  if  we 
had  thirty  ships  of  the  line  no  European  nation 
would  dare  to  attack  us,  as  not  even  England  could 
spare  that  number  at  such  a  distance  from  her  own 
coasts." 

"September  1,  1822. —Visited  the  President,  as 
usual.  He  was  quite  amusing,  and  gave  us  many 
anecdotes  of  his  life.  He  was  particularly  funny  in 
an  account  of  an  interview  he  had  with  the  Turkish 
ambassador  in  England,  whom  he  astonished  by  his 
power  of  smoking.  Also  he  spoke  of  the  Emperor 


70  FIGUEES   OF   THE   PAST. 

of  Morocco,  who  made  an  easy  treaty  with  us  be 
cause  we  were  Unitarians.  (The  meaning,  of  course, 
is  because  the  nation  put  forward  no  dogmatic  state 
ment  of  Christian  belief.)  He  spoke  concerning  the 
Jesuits,  African  religions,  Belzoni,  and  total  deprav 
ity.  On  this  last  topic  he  told  us  an  anecdote  of 
Governor  Tichenor,  of  Vermont.  After  he  had  been 
in  Congress,  he  sent  for  an  old  friend  of  his,  with 
whom  he  had  often  disputed  the  question,  and  con 
fessed  to  him  that  he  was  entirely  converted,  for  his 
political  life  had  established  his  belief  in  the  total 
depravity  of  mankind.  The  President  spoke  of  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent,  and  said  that  the  shore  fisheries  on 
the  coast  of  Labrador  were  much  superior  to  those 
on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland.  He  said  that  the 
word  'liberty'  was  used  in  the  first  treaty,  at  the 
request  of  the  English  commissioners,  as  a  sugar 
plum  to  the  common  people.  It  was,  however,  ex 
pressly  admitted  that  a  right  and  a  liberty  were 
synonymous." 

"November  6,  1821.  —  Went  to  take  a  farewell  of 
the  old  President,  and  read  to  him  for  the  last  time 
this  season.  He  thanked  me  repeatedly,  quoting  the 
words  of  the  Apostle,  and  saying  that  he  sorrowed 
most  of  all  that  he  should  see  my  face  no  more.  He 
appears  very  well ;  but  life  at  his  age  is  precarious. 
He  gave  me  an  account  of  his  forming  one  of  a  party 
of  young  men  to  be  inoculated  with  the  small-pox, 
and  going  with  them  to  be  confined  for  several  weeks 
in  a  pest-house,  as  was  the  custom  before  vaccina 
tion  was  introduced.  Before  going,  he  called  on 


VISITS   TO   JOHN   ADAMS.  71 

Dr.  Byles  (a  personage  much  noted  as  a  humorist). 
When  they  parted,  Byles  said :  '  I  give  you  my 
blessing,  like  a  Romish  priest,  —  Pax  tecum.  I  mean, 
of  course,  Pox  take  'em*  He  asked  me  what  I  had 
been  reading.  I  told  him  the  life  of  Sir  William 
Jones,  and  I  remarked  on  the  excellence  of  his 
mother.  'Young  man,'  said  the  President,  '  did  you 
ever  hear  of  a*  great  and  good  man  who  had  not  a 
good  mother?'  He  mentioned  a  family  which  had 
long  been  influential,  and  said  that  the  reason  was 
because  they  gave  good  mothers  to  their  children." 

"August  18,  1822. —  Visited  the  President  this 
evening,  and  heard  a  number  of  his  pleasant  stories. 
He  complained  of  the  intolerance  of  Christians,  and 
thought  that  the  old  Roman  system  of  permitting 
every  man  to  worship  how  and  what  he  pleased  was 
the  true  one.  He  liked  the  opinion  of  Justin  Martyr 
that  every  honest,  well-disposed,  moral  man,  even  if 
he  were  an  atheist,  should  be  accounted  a  Christian. 
He  said  that  for  nearly  eighty  years  most  of  his  lei 
sure  moments  had  been  spent  in  examining  the  various 
religions  of  the  world,  and  that  this  was  the  conclu 
sion  he  had  come  to.  Some  one  observed  that  in 
Kentucky  everybody  was  either  a  bigot  or  an  atheist. 
He  replied  that  it  was  pretty  much  the  same  all  the 
world  over." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  random  con 
versational  utterances,  given  without  their  context, 
and  copied  without  even  sequence  of  dates,  are  not 
to  be  taken  as  the  measure  of  a  great  man's 
thought  on  the  most  solemn  of  all  subjects.  Mr. 


72  FIGURES    OF   THE    PAST. 

Adams  always  professed  himself  a  Christian,  and 
was  a  constant  attendant  at  church.  His  son,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  when  asked  about  his  father's  reli 
gious  belief,  used  to  tell  this  anecdote.  John  Adams 
was  once  visiting  a  town  in  Spain,  where  the  arch 
bishop,  wishing  to  do  him  all  honor,  took  him  through 
the  cathedral.  During  their  inspection  they  came 
upon  a  shrine  where  some  relics  were  being  exhibited 
by  the  priest  in  attendance.  At  the  sight  of  these 
holy  remains,  the  archbishop  and  those  about  him 
bowed  their  heads  arid  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  upon 
their  foreheads.  Mr.  Adams,  however,  did  not  think  it 
necessary  to  imitate  this  act  of  devotion.  "Comment ! " 
exclaimed  the  shocked  custodian,  in  French,  to  his 
superior.  "  Est-ce  g_ue  Monsieur  nest  pas  Chretien  ?  " 
Such  a  question  relating  to  a  guest  to  whom  the 
archbishop  was  doing  the  honors  was  a  little  awk 
ward.  But  the  prelate  was  not  disconcerted.  He 
replied  promptly  and  with  a  smile,  "  Oui,  a  sa  mani- 
ere"  -—"  Yes,  in  his  own  way."  And,  in  the  judgment 
of  his  son,  this  happy  hit  of  the  ecclesiastic  was  the 
best  possible  answer  that  could  be  made  to  the  ques 
tion.  Mr.  Adams  was  in  the  habit  of  speaking  his 
mind  with  freedom  upon  the  narrow  views  and  bitter 
temper  which  were  then  too  common  among  sects. 
He  would  tell  a  story  which  he  has  written  out  in 
a  letter  to  Dr.  Bancroft.  A  gentleman,  being  called 
upon  to  give  to  some  missionary  fund,  confronted  the 
man  with  the  subscription  book  with  this  expression 
of  his  views  :  "  There  are  in  and  about  the  town  of 
—  ministers  of  nine  congregations.  Not  one  of 


VISITS   TO   JOHN   ADAMS.  73 

them  lives  en  terms  of  civility  with  any  other,  will 
admit  none  other  into  his  pulpit,  nor  be  permitted  to 
go  into  the  pulpit  of  any  other.  Now,  if  you  will 
raise  a  fund  to  convert  these  nine  clergymen  to 
Christianity,  I  will  contribute  as  much  as  any  man." 
To  conclude  this  subject,  I  will  give  a  remark  of 
John  Adams,  which  made  a  great  impression  upon 
the  lady  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  and  which  has 
lately  been  recalled  to  my  remembrance.  In  1820 
Judge  Cranch,  a  near  relative  of  the  President,  lost 
two  lovely  daughters.  The  lady  I  refer  to  visited 
Mr.  Adams,  to  express  her  sympathy,  and  said,  among 
other  things,  that  she  feared  the  father  would  hardly 
be  able  to  support  such  a  loss.  The  old  gentleman 
looked  her  in  the  face,  and  replied  slowly,  in  a  tone 
of  rebuke  and  with  great  vigor  of  emphasis,  "Madam, 
I  suppose  Judge  Cranch  is  a  Christian  ! " 

"  October  30,  1824  — After  an  early  dinner,  rode  to 
Quincy,  to  see  President  Adams  and  keep  his  eighty- 
ninth  birthday  with  him.  I  scarcely  ever  saw  him 
look  better  or  converse  with  more  spirit.  He  spoke 
of  Monday's  election,  and  was  especially  rejoiced  that 
all  parties  looked  with  such  affection  and  confidence 
to  our  present  form  of  government.  What  might  be 
the  state  of  things  hereafter,  when  our  territory  and 
population  increased,  he  said  he  could  not  tell ;  but 
he  evidently  had  apprehensions.  Finally,  he  said  he 
would  console  himself  with  the  reflection  of  an  old 
woman  he  mentioned.  This  was  that  God  was  always 
above  the  devil." 

"February  14,  1825.  —  Pvode  to  Quincy  with  my 


74  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

mother,  to  visit  the  President  and  to  congratulate  him 
on  the  election  of  his  son.  He  appeared  in  good 
spirits,  but  was  considerably  affected  by  the  fulfil 
ment  of  his  highest  wishes.  In  the  course  of  con 
versation,  my  mother  compared  him  to  that  old  man 
who  was  pronounced  by  Solon  to  be  the  happiest  of 
mortals  when  he  expired  on  hearing  of  his  son's  suc 
cess  at  the  Olympic  Games.  The  similarity  of  their 
situations  visibly  moved  the  old  gentleman,  and  tears 
of  joy  rolled  down  his  cheek.  Notwithstanding  this 
he  afterward  said :  '  No  man  who  ever  held  the  office 
of  President  would  congratulate  a  friend  on  obtaining 
it.  He  will  make  one  man  ungrateful  and  a  hundred 
men  his  enemies  for  every  office  he  can  bestow.' " 

I  now  turn  back  to  1822,  and  make  my  concluding 
extract  from  the  diary  of  October  30.  "  Visited  the 
President  in  the  morning ;  and,  after  writing  a  letter 
to  Matliew  Carey  from  his  dictation,  conversed  with 
him  on  several  literary  subjects.  Speaking  of  Cicero's 
treatise  '  De  Senectute,'  he  said  that  he  read  it  every 
year.  He  declared  Cato  was  quite  a  Christian  in 
feeling  when  he  says,  '  Si  quis  deus  rnihi  largiatur, 
ut  ex  hac  estate  repuerascam  et  in  cunis  vagiam,  valde 
recusem :  nee  vero  velim,  quasi  decurso  spatio,  ad  car- 
ceres  a  calce  revocari.'  The  President  recommended 
Cicero  and  Pliny  as  models  of  literary  style,  and  a 
letter  written  to  Lord  Mansfield  by  —  the  name  I  can 
not  recall.  He  thought  Lord  Bolingbroke's  '  Patriot 
King '  was  serviceable  to  public  speakers.  I  do  not 
admire  Bolingbroke  as  much  as  he  does ;  probably 
from  want  of  taste.  I  read  to  him  the  last  part 


VISITS  TO   JOHN   ADAMS.  /5 

of  the  '  Senectute,'  where  the  orator  combats  the  idea 
that  the  near  approach  of  death  is  an  evil.  When 
I  reached  the  passage  where  Cicero  anticipates  his 
reunion  with  those  he  had  known  and  his  meeting 
with  those  of  whom  he  had  read,  the  old  gentleman 
became  much  excited  and  exclaimed :  '  That  is  just 
as  I  feel.  Nothing  would  tempt  me  to  go  back.  I 
agree  with  my  old  friend,  Dr.  Franklin,  who  used  to 
say  on  this  subject,  "  We  are  all  invited  to  a  great 
entertainment.  Your  carriage  comes  first  to  the  door; 
but  we  shall  all  meet  there.'"  Who  would  think  such 
an  old  age  a  burden,  honored  in  this  world  and  hop 
ing  soon  to  depart  for  a  better,  where  he  believes  he 
shall  meet  not  only  the  friends  he  has  lost,  but  all 
the  great  and  good  who  have  gone  before  him  ?  " 

This  last  extract  fairly  represents  the  prevailing 
mood  of  mind  of  John  Adams  during  his  closing 
years. 


TALKS   WITH   JOHN   ADAMS. 


WILL  make  a  few  more  extracts  from  my  jour- 
-*-  nal  which  report  the  conversation  of  the  second 
President. 

"  Sunday,  September  16,  1821. — Dr.  Porter  preached 
all  day ;  in  the  morning  from  Job  vii.  1,  and  in  the 
afternoon  from  Ezekiel  xxxiii.  13.  He  is  quite  a  good 
preacher  and  seemingly  alive  to  the  doctrines  he  in 
culcates.  He  called  to  see  us  after  church.  In  the 
evening  my  father  and  myself  went,  as  usual,  to 
President  Adams's.  There  we  found  J.  Q.  Adams, 
and  my  father  had  a  long  discussion  with  the  Presi 
dent  and  his  son  upon  the  hopes  and  benefits  of 
peace.  J.  Q.  Adams  opposed  the  idea  that  war  in  the 
abstract  was  wicked,  for  in  every  war  one  side  must 
be  right.  He  said:  'I  consider  an  unjust  war  as  the 
greatest  of  all  human  atrocities ;  but  I  esteem  a  just 
one  as  the  highest  of  all  human  virtues.  War  calls 
into  exercise  the  highest  feelings  and  powers  of  man. 
Alexander,  Ca3sar,  and  the  Crusades  were  the  great 
causes  of  civilization.  If  an  army  could  march  into 
the  heart  of  Africa  and  wage  war  there  for  twenty 
years,  we  might  hope  that  civilization  and  religion 
would  be  the  consequences.'  The  old  President 


TALKS   WITH   JOHN   ADAMS.  77 

said  that  he  considered  wars  and  battles  as  he  did 
storms  and  hurricanes.  They  were  the  necessary 
evils  of  nature,  which  in  the  end  worked  for  good. 
He  thought  that  human  society,  like  the  ocean,  needed 
commotion  to  keep  it  from  putrefying.  '  For  my  own 
part,'  he  exclaimed,  '  I  should  not  like  to  live  in  the 
Millennium.  It  would  be  the  most  sickish  life  im 
aginable.'  Both  the  gentlemen  were  of  the  opinion 
that  wars  increased  population.  In  this  connection 
the  old  gentleman  told  a  story  of  the  great  Conde*. 
After  a  battle,  in  which  he  had  lost  twenty  thousand 
and  the  enemy  thirty  thousand  men,  he  was  walking 
over  the  field,  with  his  staff,  and  observed  several 
of  his  officers  weeping.  Upon  asking  them  the  cause, 
they  replied  that  they  could  not  help  feeling  sadly 
ftfr  the  thousands  of  their  fellow-creatures  lying  dead 
around.  '  Oh  !  is  that  all  ? '  said  the  general.  '  De 
pend  upon  it  that  Paris  will  restore  the  balance  again 
in  a  single  night.'  My  father  defended  his  Peace 
Society,  on  the  ground  of  the  amelioration  in  the 
condition  of  mankind  that  peace  would  bring  to 
pass.  Finally,  he  got  the  two  gentlemen  into  a  dis 
pute  over  the  merits  of  Alexander  the  Great.  He 
then  rose  and  left  them  at  loggerheads ;  saying,  as 
he  went  out,  much  to  their  amusement,  'You  see  I 
have  conquered  by  dividing  the  enemies  of  peace.'  " 

The  social  life  in  Quincy  in  those  simple  days  did 
not  necessitate  late  hours,  as  will  be  seen  from  my 
entry  two  days  after  this  conversation.  "  We  came 
home  from  Mrs.  Black's  at  the  orthodox  hour  of  nine. 
This  is  such  a  standing  time  for  breaking  up  in 


78  FIGUKES   OF  THE   PAST. 

Quincy  that  the  very  horses  know  the  impropriety 
of  staying  a  moment  later.  Mrs.  Black's  horse,  for 
instance,  the  moment  the  nine  o'clock  bell  rings, 
always  sets  off  and  goes  home,  whether  anybody  is 
in  the  carriage  or  not ;  but  he  never  pretends  to  stir 
without  that  warning." 

"October  10,  1822.  — Spent  a  couple  of  hours  this 
forenoon  in  writing  for  the  President.  He  keeps 
copies  of  all  the  letters  he  writes,  and  told  me  that 
he  had  done  so  for  most  of  his  life.  On  returning 
from  the  debates  in  Congress,  he  frequently  had  to 
sit  up  till  after  midnight  to  copy  letters.  '  Nothing 
but  the  independence  of  my  country/  he  said,  '  would 
have  tempted  me  to  labor  as  I  have  done.'  He  talked 
very  freely  of  some  of  his  contemporaries,  and  may 
have  been  prejudiced  in  his  views.  He  accused  Judge 

of  duplicity  and  of  glorying  in  it,  and  gave  an 

anecdote,  by  way  of  example.  He  thought,  with  Dr. 
Johnson,  that  Voltaire  was  the  most  correct  and  in 
teresting  of  historians.  Speaking  of  himself,  he  said : 
'  They  say  I  am  vain.  Thank  God  I  am  so.  Vanity 
is  the  cordial  drop  which  makes  the  bitter  cup  of  life 
go  down.  I  agree  with  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Montague, 
who  wrote  to  her  uncle,  the  Bishop,  to  inquire  whether 
the  text  "  All  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit "  was  not 
badly  translated.  She  thought  it  ought  to  be  "  All  is 
vanity  or  vexation  of  spirit."  She  implied  that  what 
was  not  vanity  was  sure  to  be  vexation,  and  there  I 
am  with  her.' " 

And  here  my  own  reports  of  the  conversation  of 
Mr.  Adams  come  to  an  end.  I  am,  however,  per- 


TALKS   WITH   JOHN   ADAMS.  79 

mitted  to  continue  the  subject  by  copying  a  few 
extracts  from  the  diary  of  my  sister,  who  was  in  the 
habit  of  keeping  a  daily  record  of  events. 

"May  22,  1821.  —  President  Adams  paid  us  a 
morning  visit  of  two  hours.  Said  he  had  been  read 
ing  the  history  of  the  Fronde.  He  talked  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  said  he  thought  she  was  obliged  to 
put  Mary  to  death.  She  had  three  questions  to  ask 
herself:  Shall  I  sacrifice  my  own  life,  the  Protestant 
religion,  and  the  laws  of  England  ?  Self-preservation, 
religion,  and  law  required  the  death  of  the  Scottish 
Queen.  Mary's  family  and  education  were  bad  and 
corrupted  her  character,  and  she  transmitted  them  to 
her  descendants.  He  advised  the  reading  of  Rapin's 
History  of  England,  saying  that  Hume  and  Smollett 
were  to  be  read  only  for  their  style,  as  you  would 
read  a  poem  like  the  '  Iliad.'  Piapin  is  an  impartial 
historian.  If  you  cannot  read  his  whole  history,  at 
least  read  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Hume  and  Smollett 
are  party  historians.  Of  Dr.  Johnson's  '  Easselas,'  he 
said  that  he  did  not  like  its  tendency.  It  gave  a  false 
estimate  of  human  life.  He  mentioned  that  Bishop 
Butler's  sermons  were  always  upon  his  table,  and  said 
of  Pascal's  '  Provincial  Letters '  that  it  was  one  of 
the  most  perfect  books  ever  written." 

"June  17,  1822.  —  Mr.  Adams  called  to  see  us, 
and  read  a  letter  he  had  just  received  from  Jefferson. 
He  was  asked  to  explain  why  he  was  now  on  such 
good  terms  with  Jefferson  and  received  such  affec 
tionate  letters  from  him,  after  the  abuse  with  which 
he  had  been  loaded  by  that  gentleman.  He  replied: 


80  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

'  I  do  not  believe  that  Mr.  Jefferson  ever  hated  me. 
On  the  contrary,  I  believed  he  always  liked  me;  but 
he  detested  Hamilton  and  my  whole  administration. 
Then  he  wished  to  be  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  I  stood  in  his  way.  So  he  did  everything  that 
he  could  to  pull  me  down.  But  if  I  should  quarrel 
with  him  for  that,  I  might  quarrel  with  every  man 
I  have  had  anything  to  do  with  in  life.  This  is 
human  nature.  Did  you  never  hear  the  lines 

"  I  love  my  friend  as  well  as  you, 
But  why  should  he  obstruct  my  view  ? " 

I  forgive  all  my  enemies  and  hope  they  may  find 
mercy  in  heaven.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  I  have  grown 
old  and  retired  from  public  life.  So  we  are  upon 
our  ancient  terms  of  good-will.'  " 

"  June  9,  1823.  —  Old  Mr.  Adams  and  his  son 
visited  us,  and  the  former  talked  a  great  deal.  He 
was  asked  why  we  heard  so  little  of  Mr.  Dickinson, 
the  author  of  the  (  Farmer's  Letters '  and  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration.  '  He  became  discouraged,' 
replied  Mr.  Adams,  '  and  for  some  time  was  one  of 
the  most  violent  opposers  of  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence.  He  had  a  wife  and  a  mother  who  were 
both  Quakers,  and  they  tormented  him  exceedingly, 
telling  him  that  he  was  ruining  himself  and  his  coun 
try  by  the  course  he  was  pursuing.  If  I  had  had 
such  a  mother  and  such  a  wife,  I  believe  I  should 
have  shot  myself.  If  they  had  opposed  me,  it  would 
have  made  me  so  very  unhappy.  I  could  not  have 
lived  had  I  not  pursued  the  course  I  did.  One  day  in 
Congress,  Mifflin,  a  relative  of  Dickinson,  had  a  dis- 


TALKS   WITH  JOHN   ADAMS.  81 

pute  with  him.  Dickinson  had  said,  in  the  course 
of  a  speech,  that,  in  driving  a  team  of  horses,  it  was 
necessary  to  rein  in  the  most  forward  and  to  encour 
age  the  slow  and  lagging.  Mifflin  got  up  and  said, 
"  Not  so,  Mr.  President.  You  had  better  knock  the 
dull  and  lazy  horses  on  the  head  and  put  them  out 
of  the  team.  It  will  go  on  much  better  without 
them."  The  circumstances  of  his  family  and  his  own 
timidity  made  Dickinson  take  the  course  he  did.  He 
was  a  man  of  immense  property  and  founded  a  col 
lege  in  Pennsylvania.'  Speaking  of  Washington,  Mr. 
Adams  said  that  his  character  stood  upon  a  firm  basis 
of  integrity  and  must  always  remain  unassailable. 
He  doubted,  however,  whether  he  was  so  great  a 
statesman  as  was  popularly  supposed.  He  said  : 
'Washington  died  very  rich,  but  gained  his  property 
in  a  fair  way,  —  by  inheritance  from  his  father,  who 
was  a  man  of  large  fortune  ;  by  the  legacy  of  Mount 
Vernon  from  his  brother ;  by  his  wife,  who  was  the 
widow  of  a  man  of  fortune.  Then  he  made  a  good 
deal  of  money  in  his  youth,  when  he  was  surveying 
in  the  woods.  The  Farewell  Address  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States  was,  I  think,  written  by  himself, 
and  then  given  to  Hamilton  and  Jay.  Hamilton 
read  it,  no  doubt ;  but  I  think  that  Jay  finally  drew 
it  up  and  finished  it.  I  know  that  it  has  been  attrib 
uted  to  Hamilton  ;  but  it  is  not  in  his  style.  It  is 
in  Jay's  style.'  Mr.  Adams  talked  on  for  two  hours. 
He  told  us  how  Judge  Edmund  Quincy  knocked 
down  a  robber  whom  he  met  while  travelling  from 
Braintree  to  Boston.  In  lifting  up  his  cane  to  illus- 


82  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

trate  the  deed,  the  old  gentleman  nearly  demolished 
a  picture  which  hung  just  behind  him.  When  he 
rose  to  go,  he  said,  '  If  I  was  to  corne  here  once  a 
day,  I  should  live  half  a  year  longer.'  The  reply 
was  made :  '  You  had  much  better  come  twice  a 
day,  and  live  a  year  longer.'  He  said  the  sugges 
tion  was  a  good  one,  and  that  he  would  return 
again  in  the  afternoon." 

"June  12, 1823. — Mr.  Adams  called,  and  appeared 
rather  feeble,  saying  that  he  had  never  known  so  cold 
a  spring.  He  spoke  of  Mr.  Quincy's  popularity  in 
Boston.  I  said,  '  It  is  not  to  be  depended  upon.' 
'  No,'  said  Mr.  Adams,  '  it  is  not.  In  1769,  when 
Colonel  Quincy,  his  grandfather,  was  a  member  from 
Braintree  of  a  Convention  of  the  Province,  he  made 
several  speeches,  and  in  one  of  them  he  said,  "  When 
I  was  a  young  man  I  courted  Popularity.  I  found 
her  but  a  coy  mistress,  and  I  soon  deserted  her/' 
Now  I  am  quite  of  his  opinion.  Madame  Popularity 
is  as  whimsical  as  a  girl  in  her  teens.'  He  talked  of 
the  '  Pioneers/  by  Cooper,  and  said  it  had  merit  as 
a  description  of  the  country,  but  had  the  usual  ten 
dency  of  all  the  Middle  and  Southern  States  to  de 
preciate  New  England.  '  Our  ancestors,  the  Puritans/ 
continued  Mr.  Adams,  *  were  a  most  unpopular  set  of 
men ;  yet  the  world  owes  all  the  liberty  it  possesses 
to  them.  Mr.  Hume  acknowledges  that  this  is  so. 
The  world  owes  more  to  the  Puritans  than  to  any 
other  sect.'" 

During  1825  Gilbert  Stuart,  the  famous  artist,  came 
to  Quincy  to  paint  the  portrait  of  John  Adams,  then 


TALKS   WITH   JOHN   ADAMS.  83 

in  his  eighty-ninth  year.  And  this  portrait  is  a  re 
markable  work;  for  a  faithful  representation  of  the 
extreme  age  of  the  subject  would  have  been  painful 
in  inferior  hands.  But  Stuart  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  living  spirit  shining  through  the  feeble  and  de 
crepit  body.  He  saw  the  old  man  at  one  of  those 
happy  moments  when  the  intelligence  lights  up  its 
wasted  envelope,  and  what  he  saw  he  fixed  upon 
his  canvas.  And  the  secret  of  the  artist's  success 
was  revealed  in  a  remark  which  Mr.  Adams  made 
to  me,  while  the  sittings  were  in  progress.  "  Speak 
ing  generally,"  said  he,  "  no  penance  is  like  having 
one's  picture  done.  You  must  sit  in  a  constrained 
and  unnatural  position,  which  is  a  trial  to  the  tem 
per.  But  I  should  like  to  sit  to  Stuart  from  the 
first  of  January  to  the  last  of  December,  for  he  lets 
me  do  just  what  I  please  and  keeps  me  constantly 
amused  by  his  conversation."  The  method  of  Stuart 
is  oiven  in  these  few  words.  It  was  his  habit  to 

O 

throw  his  subject  off  his  guard,  and  then,  by  his 
wonderful  powers  of  conversation,  he  would  call  up 
different  emotions  in  the  face  he  was  studying.  He 
chose  the  best  or  that  which  he  thought  most  charac 
teristic,  and  with  the  skill  of  genius  used  it  to  ani 
mate  the  picture. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  mention  that  I  myself 
have  sat  to  the  artist  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
the  likeness  of  Washington,  and  that,  as  I  believe,  I 
am  the  only  person  living  who  has  had  that  privilege. 
The  way  it  happened  was  rather  peculiar,  for  I  did 
not  sit  for  my  own  portrait.  Stuart  was  engaged  in 


84  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

painting  the  likeness  of  a  person  deceased,  who  was 
connected  with  the  Revolution  and  to  whom  it  was 
said  that  I  bore  some  resemblance ;  and  it  was  owing 
to  this  circumstance  that  the  sittings  came  about.  He 
used  certain  of  my  features  as  parts  of  the  material 
from  which  a  likeness  was  to  be  evolved.  The  artist 
took  snuff  constantly,  and  talked  with  as  much  spirit 
as  if  he  had  some  important  personage  to  entertain. 
He  gave  me  a  very  interesting  account  of  his  early 
struggles  in  London,  and  of  his  being  suddenly  lifted 
into  fame  by  the  exhibition  of  a  single  picture.  I 
well  remember  the  dramatic  force  he  threw  into  his 
anecdotes.  One  of  them,  I  remember,  related  to  an 
Irishman  who  had  acquired  a  castle  by  a  fortunate 
speculation,  and  thereupon  sent  for  Stuart  to  paint 
the  portraits  of  his  ancestors.  The  painter  naturally 
supposed  that  there  were  miniatures  or  drawings, 
whose  authority  he  was  to  follow ;  but,  on  arriving 
at  the  castle,  he  was  told,  to  his  great  surprise,  that 
nothing  of  the  kind  existed.  "  Then  how  the  deuce 
am  I  going  to  paint  your  ancestors,  if  you  have  no 
ancestors  ?"  asked  Stuart  with  some  temper.  "  Noth 
ing  easier,"  rejoined  the  proprietor.  "  Go  to  work 
and  paint  such  ancestors  as  I  ought  to  have  had." 
The  artist  relished  the  joke,  and,  setting  to  work, 
produced  a  goodly  company  of  knights  in  armor, 
judges  in  bushy  wigs,  and  high-born  ladies  with 
nosegays  and  lambs.  "And  the  man  was  so  de 
lighted  with  'his  ancestors  who  came  after  him/" 
remarked  Stuart,  aptly  quoting  the  saying  of  Shake 
speare's  Slender,  "  that  he  paid  me  twice  what  he 


TALKS   WITH  JOHN  ADAMS.  85 

agreed  to."  Notwithstanding  this  stroke  of  fortune, 
Stuart  complained  bitterly  of  the  meagre  compensa 
tion  received  by  artists.  "  I  get  fair  prices  for  my 
pictures,"  said  he ;  "  but  the  man  who  works  with 
his  hands  can  never  become  rich.  A  grocer  will 
make  more  by  buying  a  cargo  of  molasses  in  a  day 
than  my  labor  can  bring  me  in  a  year." 

Stuart,  it  may  be  said,  was  naturally  improvident, 
as  so  many  artists  of  genius  have  been.  His  pictures 
now  command  enormous  prices.  A  few  copies  of  his 
Washington,  for  which  he  received  one  hundred  dol 
lars,  are  now  said  to  be  worth  three  thousand  dollars 
each. 


THE  OLD   PRESIDENT  IN   PUBLIC. 


I 


FIND  in  my  journals  notices  of  the  appearance 
of  John  Adams  in  public  upon  two  occasions. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  Massachusetts  Convention 
of  1820.  The  District  of  Maine,  which  had  long 
been  part  of  Massachusetts,  wished  to  set  up  an 
independent  government;  and  this  assembly  was 
convened  to  make  the  necessary  changes  in  an  in 
strument  which  President  Adams  had  drafted  some 
forty  years  before.  It  was  felt  to  be  the  last  time 
that  the  venerable  statesman  would  appear  in  public. 
He  had  been  sent  as  a  delegate  by  his  native  town, 
and  the  interest  excited  by  his  entrance  was  very 
great.  He  had  declined  the  presidency  of  the  con 
vention,  which,  as  a  matter  of  compliment,  was  unani 
mously  offered  him.  He  was  then  eighty-six  years 
old,  arid  too  infirm  to  discharge  the  duties  of  this 
office.  Representative  bodies  at  that  time  wore  their 
hats  during  session,  after  the  manner  of  the  British 
Parliament ;  but  every  head  was  uncovered  when 
the  delegate  from  Quincy  was  conducted  to  a  seat 
reserved  for  him  on  the  right  of  Chief  Justice  Par 
ker,  who,  on  the  refusal  of  Mr.  Adams,  had  been 
chosen  to  preside.  I  note  in  my  journal  that  the 


THE   OLD   PRESIDENT   IN  PUBLIC.  87 

scene  recalled  a  print  of  the  Roman  Senate,  with  the 
two  consuls  presiding  in  august  dignity.  And  the 
assembly  was  as  remarkable  as  any  convened  in  the 
best  days  of  the  ancient  republics.  It  was  composed 
of  men  of  the  very  first  eminence,  the  flower  of  the 
State  at  a  time  when  Massachusetts  possessed  more 
men  of  distinguished  ability  than  at  any  other  period 
in  her  history. 

I  heard  Mr.  Adams  speak  on  one  of  the  few  occa 
sions  when  he  ventured  to  do  so.  The  subject  had 
to  do  with  universal  suffrage,  as  opposed  to  a  prop 
erty  qualification;  and  upon  this  question  he  took 
what  would  now  be  thought  the  wrong  side.  But  the 
old  gentleman  had  then,  as  always,  the  courage  of  his 
opinions.  He  gave  us  a  graphic  sketch  of  the  hor 
rors  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  frightened  so 
many  of  the  best  Americans  of  his  generation,  and 
finished  by  declaring  that  when  our  ancestors  made 
a  pecuniary  qualification  necessary  for  office  and 
necessary  for  electors,  they  were  supported  by  the 
opinion  of  all  the  wise  men  the  world  had  produced. 
This  interesting  subject  was  fully  debated  in  the  con 
vention  ;  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  arguments 
in  favor  of  retaining  the  restriction,  which  limited 
suffrage  to  those  possessing  property  to  the  amount 
of  two  hundred  dollars,  have  not  been  weakened  by 
subsequent  history.  It  is  worth  while  to  do  justice 
to  the  champions  of  this  lost  cause  by  saying  that 
they  never  for  a  moment  admitted  that  a  small  prop 
erty  qualification  gave  the  rich  an  undue  weight  in 
legislation.  They  asserted,  on  the  contrary,  that, 


88  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

were  rich  men  to  act  selfishly  and  as  a  class,  they 
would  remove  all  restrictions.  It  was  the  poor  man, 
who  had  laboriously  earned  the  two  hundred  dollars, 
who  lost  his  political  all  when  those  who  had  no 
stake  whatever  in  the  community  were  admitted  to 
vote  him  down.  The  rich  man,  by  the  influence  re 
sulting  from  his  property  over  those  who  had  nothing 
to  lose  and  everything  to  gain  from  his  favor,  would 
make  himself  master  of  the  situation.  Has  not  our 
later  political  history  in  a  measure  justified  these 
prophecies  ?  Of  course,  there  was  much  said  (and  it 
was  well  said)  in  the  convention  in  favor  of  unlim 
ited  suffrage;  and  there  is  no  use  in  reopening  a 
question  which  has  been  forever  decided.  But  it 
is  simply  just  to  John  Adams,  and  to  those  who 
stood  with  him,  that  the  chief  reason  of  their  op 
position  should  be  understood.  It  was  to  secure 
a  genuine  representation  of  the  poor  against  the 
usurpations  of  the  rich  that  they  wished  to  impose 
a  small  pecuniary  qualification  upon  voters.  It  is 
perhaps  better  that  they  should  have  failed,  if  we, 
now  realizing  the  danger  that  they  pointed  out,  shall 
hasten  to  remove  all  obstacles  which  prevent  a  man 
of  reasonable  industry  from  acquiring  an  independent 
home.  Who  can  doubt  that  if  those  statesmen  were 
with  us  to-day,  they  would  tell  us  that  this  was  the 
way  to  mitigate  and  finally  abolish  the  evils  which 
they  foresaw  ? 

The  other  occasion  when  I  heard  President  Adams 
speak  in  -public  was  during  the  visit  of  the  West 
Point  Cadets.  This  was  an  event  of  considerable 


THE  OLD  PRESIDENT  IN  PUBLIC.        89 

magnitude  at  the  time.  The  noble  corps,  numbering 
more  than  two  hundred  students,  had  marched  all  the 
way  to  Boston.  Indeed,  at  that  time  this  was  the 
only  way  to  come  if  they  came  at  all.  A  fine  band 
accompanied  them,  and  they  were  treated  with  marked 
hospitality  in  every  town  through  which  they  passed. 
We  cannot  wonder  at  the  interest  they  excited.  Here 
was  a  military  corps,  splendidly  equipped  and  com 
posed  of  the  most  promising  young  men  in  the  coun 
try.  The  training  at  West  Point  was  then  far  superior 
to  any  given  at  the  colleges,  and  these  young  gentle 
men  were  known  to  be  subjected  to  an  intellectual 
discipline  which  was  quite  as  severe  as  their  physical 
drill.  The  selectmen  of  Boston,  attended  by  a  cav 
alcade  of  citizens,  went  to  meet  their  visitors  at  the 
boundary  of  the  town.  Salutes  of  artillery  were  fired 
as  the  Cadets  crossed  the  line,  and  they  were  con 
ducted  to  their  camp  on  the  Common  with  due  cere 
mony.  These  young  Hannibals  were  said  to  have 
found  their  Capua  in  the  staid  Puritan  town.  It 
may  now  be  admitted  that  the  infatuation  about 
them  was  carried  to  an  extreme.  A  stand  of  col 
ors,  bearing  the  motto  A  scientia  ad  yloriam,  was  sol 
emnly  voted  them  in  town  meeting,  and  presented  by 
the  selectmen  with  much  eolat.  Never  was  heard 
such  martial  music  as  was  produced  by  their  band ; 
never  were  the  capabilities  of  the  bugle  understood 
until  the  leading  musician  of  the  company  performed 
upon  that  instrument.  Governor  Brooks,  a  capital 
judge  of  tactual  merit,  declared  that  their  drill  was 
perfect.  Major  Worth,  their  commander,  was  a  very 


90  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

handsome  man,  and  seemed  to  the  ladies  an  ideal  sol 
dier,  as  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  was.  In  short, 
the  Cadets  captivated  us ;  and  dinners,  public  colla 
tions,  and  entertainments  of  all  sorts  only  did  justice 
to  our  feelings.  One  day  the  corps  marched  to  Cam 
bridge,  where  the  authorities  of  the  college  provided 
them  with  a  banquet  in  Commons  Hall.  On  an 
other  occasion  they  went  to  Bunker  Hill,  and  Major 
Worth's  marquee  was  pitched  on  the  angle  of  the 
redoubt  thrown  up  during  the  night  previous  to  the 
famous  battle.  A  visit  to  the  venerated  statesman 
of  Quincy  was,  of  course,  included  in  the  programme- 
The  occasion  was  one  of  great  interest,  and  I  find  an 
account  of  it  in  my  journal;  but  the  reader  will 
thank  me  for  suppressing  my  own  narrative,  and 
supplying  its  place  with  an  extract  from  the  diary  of 
my  sister,  who  was  present  at  the  scene,  and  which  I 
am  allowed  the  privilege  of  copying. 

"August  14,  1821. —  To-day  the  Cadets  visited 
President  Adams,  and  we  passed  them  on  the  road  to 
his  residence.  Major  Worth,  who  rode  a  fine  horse, 
recognized  and  saluted  us.  Our  coachman,  seeing  the 
little  fifer  of  the  band  running  along  the  road,  told 
him  to  get  up  behind  the  carriage,  which  he  did ;  and 
our  military  footman  excited  some  attention.  Mr. 
Adams  received  us  with  his  accustomed  kindness. 
The  Cadets  halted  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  to  refresh 
themselves  at  the  brook,  after  their  seven-miles  walk 
from  Boston.  They  then  formed  in  order  and  marched 
past  the  house,  with  their  colors  flying  and  the  band 
playing.  They  went  through  their  exercises  in  the 


THE   OLD    PRESIDENT   IN   PUBLIC.  91 

field  opposite,  and  then  stacked  their  arms  and  marched 
into  the  courtyard.  Mr.  Adams  stood  on  the  piazza, 
with  the  Cadets  before  him  and  Major  Worth  at  his 
side.  The  contrast  between  the  venerable  old  man 
and  the  handsome  young  officer,  in  the  prime  of  life, 
was  very  striking.  His  voice  trembled  as  he  began 
to  speak,  but  as  he  proceeded  it  grew  stronger.  He 
began  by  saying  that,  although  palsied  by  age,  he 
would  not  deny  himself  the  pleasure  of  addressing 
them.  He  spoke  of  real  glory,  and  held  up  the  char 
acter  of  Washington  to  the  admiration  and  imitation 
of  the  young  men  before  him.  He  assured  them  that 
their  advantages  of  education  should  give  them  knowl 
edge  of  much  more  than  military  tactics.  He  made 
a  very  excellent  speech.  When  it  was  finished,  the 
Cadets  went  to  a  collation  arranged  under  an  awning, 
at  the  side  of  the  courtyard.  After  this,  they  threw 
themselves  on  the  grass  under  the  shade  of  the  horse- 
chestnuts,  and  many  of  them  were  so  fatigued  that, 
notwithstanding  the  loud  talking,  they  fell  asleep. 
We  showed  Major  Worth  the  portraits  of  the  Adams 
family,  in  the  drawing-room,  and  also  that  of  General 
Warren.  The  Major  combines  a  polished  exterior 
with  the  severity  of  a  rigid  disciplinarian  ;  his  men 
feel  that  his  slightest  word  has  the  force  of  an  irrevo 
cable  decree.  Mr.  Adams  took  his  seat  with  the 
ladies  on  the  piazza,  and  the  new  standards  presented 
by  the  authorities  of  the  Town  of  Boston  were  dis 
played  before  us.  The  national  flag  is  painted  on  a 
dark  ground,  and  is  never  lowered  except  to  the  Pres 
ident  of  the  United  States.  The  regimental  standard 


92  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

is  painted  on  a  white  ground,  with  a  figure  of  Mi 
nerva  and  various  appropriate  devices.  Major  Worth, 
wishing  to  exhibit  the  standards  to  the  best  advan 
tage,  ordered  a  Cadet  to  hold  them  up.  The  young 
man  obeyed,  and,  thinking  he  must  not  move  without 
orders,  continued  to  stand  like  a  statue  long  after  the 
ladies  and  Mr.  Adams  had  finished  their  survey.  It 
was  observed,  however,  that  he  made  out  to  hold  them 
so  that  he  could  see  the  ladies  over  them.  Speaking 
of  the  presentation  of  colors  yesterday,  Major  Worth 
said,  '  I  never  felt  my  courage  so  severely  tried  as  in 
making  that  speech  to  the  Governor.  I  had  much 
rather  fight  a  battle ;  but,  now  the  colors  are  in  our 
hands,  they  shall  never  leave  them.'  He  then  made 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  induce  Moniac,  the  Indian 
Cadet,  to  be  introduced  to  Mr.  Adams  and  the  ladies. 
At  last  he  gave  this  up,  saying,  '  He  is  too  bashful.' 
He  added :  '  I  have  myself  been  taken  for  the  Indian 
all  along  the  road.  People  would  point  to  me  and 
say,  '  Look  there  !  there  's  the  Indian  ! '  The  stand 
ards  were  now  crossed  in  front  of  the  piazza,  and 
the  band  under  the  chestnut-tree  played  charmingly, 
giving  us  '  Adams  and  Liberty,'  and  other  patriotic 
airs.  Mr.  Adams  beat  time  to  the  music,  and  seemed 
as  much  delighted  as  any  one.  The  Cadets  were  then 
drawn  up  and  introduced  to  Mr.  Adams  by  the  officers 
of  their  respective  companies.  They  passed  over  the 
piazza  one  by  one,  and  Mr.  Adams  shook  hands  with 
each  of  them.  It  was  very  interesting  to  watch  the 
varied  expressions  of  their  countenances.  When  they 
took  leave,  Mr.  Adams  put  into  the  hands  of  Major 


THE   OLD   PRESIDENT   IN  PUBLIC.  93 

Worth  a  copy  of  his  address,  in  his  own  handwriting, 
for  which  the  Major  said  a  cabinet  should  be  made 
at  West  Point.  The  Cadets  returned  to  the  field  op 
posite,  where  they  had  stacked  their  arms,  and  went 
through  various  military  movements  before  they 
marched  off.  They  were  to  proceed  to  Milton,  where 
an  entertainment  was  to  be  given  them  by  Mr.  B. 
Smith,  in  the  old  mansion  of  Governor  Hutchinson. 
It  was  altogether  a  most  interesting  occasion.  Presi 
dent  Adams  seemed  highly  gratified,  and  it  was  de 
lightful  to  us  to  see  the  honors  attending  his  old  age." 
Of  one  more  act  of  a  public  nature  performed  by 
Mr.  Adams  I  find  the  record.  This  was  the  generous 
gift  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  to  his 
native  town,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  an  acad 
emy.  The  deeds  by  which  this  property  was  con 
veyed  were  executed  at  my  father's  house,  and  my 
name  appears  as  a  witness  to  the  documents.  At  the 
time  that  it  was  made,  this  endowment  promised  to 
be  of  greater  value  than  it  has  yet  turned  out.  No 
property  seemed  to  be  of  more  certain  worth  than 
farming  lands  near  a  large  and  growing  centre  of  pop 
ulation.  Who  imagined  that  men  then  living  would 
see  the  time  when  the  food  for  Boston  would  be 
brought  from  the  distant  West;  when  a  ton  of  prod 
uce  could  be  moved  at  a  cost  of  eight  tenths  of  a 
cent  per  mile,  and  a  year's  subsistence  could  be  car 
ried  one  thousand  miles  to  the  laborer  at  the  price  of 
his  wages  for  a  single  day  !  Not  having  these  antici 
pations,  the  townsmen  of  Mr.  Adams  could  not  con 
ceive  that  a  half-century  must  elapse  before  a  "  stone 


94  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

school-house  "  could  be  built  from  the  profits  of  the 
pastures  which  had  been  given  for  this  purpose.  It 
is  only  recently  that  the  academy  has  risen  on  the 
site  its  founder  designated.  This  was  over  the  cel 
lar  of  the  house  in  which  Governor  Hancock  was 
born  ;  better  known  as  that  John  Hancock  whose 
name,  written  with  such  vigorous  penmanship,  heads 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  In  the  deeds  by 
which  he  conveyed  this  property  the  President  did 
not  confine  himself  to  those  dry  technicalities  which 
make  such  instruments  the  dreariest  of  literature, 
but  said  his  mind  freely  and  with  characteristic 
strength.  His  old  friend,  Hancock,  is  designated  as 
"  that  generous,  disinterested,  bountiful  benefactor  of 
his  country."  Lemuel  Bryant,  pastor  of  the  First 
Church,  is  described  as  "  reverend,  learned,  disinter 
ested,  and  eloquent."  His  suggestions  to  the  future 
masters  of  the  academy  are  quaint  enough  to  be 
quoted :  — 

"  But  I  hope  the  future  masters  will  not  think  me 
too  presumptuous  if  I  advise  them  to  begin  their 
lessons  in  Greek  and  Hebrew  by  compelling  their 
pupils  to  take  their  pens  and  write,  over  and  over 
again,  copies  of  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  alphabets, 
in  all  their  variety  of  characters,  until  they  are  per 
fect  masters  of  those  alphabets  and  characters.  This 
will  be  as  good  an  exercise  in  chirography  as  any 
they  can  use,  and  will  stamp  those  characters  and 
alphabets  upon  their  tender  minds  and  vigorous 
memories  so  deeply  that  the  impression  will  never 
wear  out." 


THE   OLD   PRESIDENT   IN   PUBLIC.  95 

New  methods  in  education  have  undoubtedly  su 
perseded  those  in  vogue  in  the  time  of  President 
Adams ;  but  the  school  that  he  generously  founded 
is  likely  to  adopt  all  the  modern  improvements. 
The  late  Dr.  William  E.  Dimmock  —  one  of  the 
best  teachers  our  country  has  produced  —  was  its 
first  master,  and  he  gave  six  years  of  absorbing 
labor  to  the  service.  His  was  the  important  work 
of  establishing  the  traditions  of  the  school ;  and  his 
gracious  figure  stands  upon  the  background  of  its 
past  like  that  of  Dr.  Arnold  at  Rugby.  His  successor 
was  Dr.  William  Everett,  of  whose  self-sacrificing 
devotion  to  the  academy  it  is,  happily,  not  yet  time 
to  speak. 

lu  the  cemeteries  about  Boston  there  are  placed 
beside  many  of  the  monuments  iron  plates  with  the 
words  "  Perpetual  Care  "  cast  upon  them  in  the  most 
durable  fashion.  The  Adams  Academy  —  the  wor 
thiest  monument  of  the  distinguished  friend  of  my 
youth  —  bears  no  similar  inscription.  Heaven  for 
bid  that  such  a  reminder  should  be  necessary  for  any 
citizen  of  his  native  town ! 


ECLIPSE"  AGAINST   THE  WORLD. 


the  27th  of  May,  1823,  nearly  fifty-seven  years 
ago,  there  was  a  great  excitement  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  for  on  that  day  the  long-expected  race  of 
"  Eclipse  against  the  world  "  was  to  be  decided  on  the 
race-course  on  Long  Island.  It  was  an  amicable  con 
test  between  the  North  and  the  South.  The  New 
York  votaries  of  the  turf — a  much  more  prominent 
interest  than  at  present  —  had  offered  to  run  Eclipse 
against  any  horse  that  could  be  produced,  for  a  purse 
of  $10,000;  and  the  Southern  gentlemen  had  accepted 
the  challenge.  I  could  obtain  no  carriage  to  take  me 
to  the  course,  as  every  conveyance  in  the  city  was 
engaged.  Carriages  of  every  description  formed  an 
unbroken  line  from  the  ferry  to  the  ground.  They 
were  driven  rapidly,  and  were  in  very  close  connec 
tion  ;  so  much  so  that  when  one  of  them  suddenly 
stopped,  the  poles  of  at  least  a  dozen  carriages  broke 
through  the  panels  of  those  preceding  them.  The 
drivers  were  naturally  much  enraged  at  this  accident ; 
but  it  seemed  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  crush 
and  hurry  of  the  day,  and  nobody  could  be  blamed 
for  it.  The  party  that  I  was  with,  seeing  there  was 
no  chance  of  riding,  was  compelled  to  foot  it.  But 


"  ECLIPSE  "  AGAINST   THE    WORLD.  97 

after  plodding  some  way,  we  had  the  luck  to  fall  in 
with  a  returning  carriage,  which  we  chartered  to  take 
us  to  the  course.  On  arriving,  we  found  an  assembly 
which  was  simply  overpowering ;  it  was  estimated  that 
there  were  over  one  hundred  thousand  persons  upon 
the  ground.  The  conditions  of  the  race  were  four-mile 
heats,  the  best  two  in  three  ;  the  course  was  a  mile 
in  length.  A  college  friend,  the  late  David  P.  Hall, 
had  procured  for  me  a  ticket  for  the  jockey-box, 
which  commanded  a  view  of  the  whole  field.  There 
was  great  difficulty  in  clearing  the  track,  until  Eclipse 
and  Sir  Henry  (the  Southern  horse)  were  brought  to 
the  stand.  They  were  both  in  brave  spirits,  throwing 
their  heels  high  into  the  air;  they  soon  effected  that 
scattering  of  the  multitude  which  all  other  methods 
had  failed  to  accomplish..  And  now  a  great  disap 
pointment  fell,  like  a  wet  blanket,  on  more  than  half 
the  spectators.  It  was  suddenly  announced  that 
Purdy,  the  jockey  of  Eclipse,  had  had  a  difficulty 
with  his  owner  and  refused  to  ride.  To  substitute 
another  in  his  place  seemed  almost  like  giving  up 
the  contest ;  but  the  man  was  absolutely  stubborn, 
and  the  time  had  come.  Another  rider  was  provided, 
and  the  signal  for  the  start  was  given.  I  stood  ex 
actly  opposite  the  judges'  seat,  where  the  mastering 
excitement  found  its  climax.  Off  went  the  horses, 
every  eye  straining  to  follow  them.  Four  times  they 
dashed  by  the  judges'  stand,  and  every  time  Sir 
Henry  was  on  the  lead.  The  spirits  of  the  Southern 
ers  seemed  to  leap  up  beyond  control,  while  the  de 
pression  of  the  more  phlegmatic  North  set  in  like  a 

7 


98  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

physical  chill.  Directly  before  me  sat  John  Ran 
dolph,  the  great  orator  of  Virginia;  a  man  to  be 
noticed  more  particularly  in  a  succeeding  paper. 
Apart  from  his  intense  sectional  pride,  he  had  per 
sonal  reasons  to  rejoice  at  the  turn  tilings  were  tak 
ing  ;  for  he  had  bet  heavily  on  the  contest,  and,  it 
was  said,  proposed  to  sail  for  Europe  upon  clearing 
enough  to  pay  his  expenses.  Half  an  hour  elapsed 
for  the  horses  to  get  their  wind,  and  again  they  were 
brought  to  the  stand.  But  now  a  circumstance  oc 
curred  which  raised  a  deafening  shout  from  the  par 
tisans  of  the  North.  Purdy  was  to  ride.  How  his 
scruples  had  been  overcome  did  not  appear,  but  there 
he  stood  before  us,  and  was  mounting  Eclipse.  Again, 
amidst  breathless  suspense,  the  word  "Go!"  was  heard, 
and  again  Sir  Henry  took  the  inside  track,  and  kept 
the  lead  for  more  than  two  miles  and  a  half.  Eclipse 
followed  close  on  his  heels  and,  at  short  intervals, 
attempted  to  pass.  At  every  spurt  he  made  to  get 
ahead,  Randolph's  high-pitched  and  penetrating  voice 
was  heard  each  time  shriller  than  before :  "  You  can't 
do  it,  Mr.  Purdy  !  You  can't  do  it,  Mr.  Purdy !  You 
can't  do  it,  Mr.  Purdy  ! "  But  Mr.  Purdy  did  do  it. 
And  as  he  took  the  lead  what  a  roar  of  excitement 
went  up!  Tens  of  thousands  of  dollars  were  in  sus 
pense,  and  although  I  had  not  a  cent  depending,  I 
lost  my  breath,  and  felt  as  if  a  sword  had  passed 
through  me.  Purdy  kept  the  lead  and  came  in  a 
length  or  so  ahead.  The  horses  had  run  eight  miles, 
and  the  third  heat  was  to  decide  the  day.  The  con 
fidence  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  gentlemen  was 


"  ECLIPSE  "  AGAINST  THE   WORLD.  99 

abated.  The  manager  of  Sir  Henry  rode  up  to  the 
front  of  our  box  and,  calling  to  a  gentleman,  said, 
"  You  must  ride  the  next  heat ;  there  are  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Southern  money  depending  on  it. 
That  boy  don't  know  how  to  ride  ;  he  don't  keep  his 
horse's  mouth  open  ! "  The  gentleman  positively  re 
fused,  saying  that  he  had  not  been  in  the  saddle  for 
months.  The  manager  begged  him  to  come  down, 
and  John  Randolph  was  summoned  to  use  his  elo 
quent  persuasions.  When  the  horses  were  next 
brought  to  the  stand,  behold  the  gentleman  appeared, 
booted  and  spurred,  with  a  red  jacket  on  his  back, 
and  a  jockey  cap  on  his  head.  On  the  third  heat 
Eclipse  took  the  lead  and,  by  dint  of  constant  whip 
ping  and  spurring,  won  by  a  length  this  closely  con 
tested  race. 

There  was  never  contest  more  exciting.  Sectional 
feeling  and  heavy  pecuniary  stakes  were  both  in 
volved.  The  length  of  time  before  it  was  decided, 
the  change  of  riders,  the  varying  fortunes,  all  intensi 
fied  the  interest.  I  have  seen  the  great  Derby  races  ; 
but  they  finish  almost  as  soon  as  they  begin,  and 
were  tame  enough  in  comparison  to  this.  Here  for 
nearly  two  hours  there  was  no  abatement  in  the 
strain.  I  was  unconscious  of  everything  else,  and 
found,  when  the  race  was  concluded,  that  the  sun  had 
actually  blistered  my  cheek  without  my  perceiving 
it.  The  victors  were  of  course  exultant,  and  Purdy, 
mounted  on  Eclipse,  was  led  up  to  the  judges'  stand, 
the  band  playing  "  See  the  Conquering  Hero  comes." 
The  Southerners  bore  their  losses  like  gentlemen,  and 


100  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

with  a  good  grace.  It  was  suggested  that  the  com 
parative  chances  of  Adams  and  Jackson  at  the  ap 
proaching  Presidential  election  should  he  tested  hy  a 
vote  of  that  gathering.  "Ah,"  said  Mr.  Kandolph, 
"  if  the  question  of  the  Presidency  could  he  settled 
by  this  assembly  there  would  be  no  opposition ;  Mr. 
Purdy  would  go  to  the  White  House  by  acclamation." 
I  have  thus  endeavored  to  describe,  from  my  jour 
nal  of  that  period,  the  first  great  contest  between  the 
North  and  the  South, — a  contest  in  which  the  grand 
fathers  of  many  of  my  readers  were  deeply  interested. 
It  seems  to  have  foreshadowed  the  sterner  conflict 
that  occurred  forty  years  afterwards.  The  victory 
resulted  in  both  cases  from  the  same  cause,  —  the 
power  of  endurance.  It  was,  in  the  language  of  the 
turf,  bottom  against  speed.  The  North  had  no  braver 
men  than  were  found  in  the  Confederate  ranks ;  it 
had  no  abler  generals  than  Lee  and  Jackson.  It  had 
only  greater  resources.  Let  us  hope  that,  as  on  the 
former  occasion,  the  gentlemen  of  the  South  will 
acquiesce  in  a  result  that  neither  valor  nor  skill  could 
avert,  and  that,  uniting  their  spirit  with  the  re 
sources  and  energy  of  the  North,  we  shall  together 
advance  the  virtue,  prosperity,  and  glory  of  our  com 
mon  country. 


LAFAYETTE  IN   BOSTON. 


THE  visit  of  General  Lafayette  to  America,  nearly 
fifty  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  nation 
which  he  had  so  generously  assisted,  was  an  event 
to  which  the  world's  history  can  furnish  no  parallel. 
The  great  experiment  of  self-government  was  held 
to  be  a  triumphant  success.  Our  population  and 
prosperity  had  increased  beyond  all  precedent,  and 
our  navy  bore  our  flag  over  every  sea.  It  was  as  if 
one  of  the  dead  heroes  of  the  past,  to  whom  the  in 
debtedness  of  mankind  is  always  acknowledged,  were 
to  be  reanimated  to  receive  the  gratitude  of  a  living 
world.  Never  was  the  benefactor  of  a  people  awarded 
a  homage  so  universal,  so  spontaneous,  so  heartfelt, 
so  intelligent.  There  are,  doubtless,  men  living,  past 
their  threescore  and  ten  years,  who  as  school-boys 
hung  upon  the  outskirts  of  the  crowds  which  sur 
rounded  the  hero.  But  of  the  grown  men  who  occu 
pied  official  positions  during  the  visits  of  Lafayette 
to  Boston,  and  were  on  this  account  brought  into 
personal  contact  with  him,  I  believe  that  I  am  the 
sole  survivor.  As  aide-de-camp  to  the  Governor  of 
Massachusetts,  I  stood  at  the  side  of  Lafayette  on 
that  memorable  occasion  when  he  laid  the  corner- 


102  FIGURES  $F  THE  PAST. 

stone  of  the  monument  on  Bunker  Hill ;  and  when 
he  left  the  State  I  occupied  with  him  the  back  seat 
of  the  carriage,  enjoying  his  conversation  and  the 
ovations  of  the  towns  through  which  we  passed. 

The  intelligence  of  the  arrival  of  Lafayette  in  the 
harbor  of  New  York,  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  of 
August,  1824,  spread  through  that  city  with  a  rapid 
ity  which  our  present  methods  of  electrical  commu 
nication  could  scarcely  have  increased.  Multitudes 
poured  into  the  street,  in  expectation  of  instantly 
beholding  him.  But,  at  the  request  of  the  city  au 
thorities,  he  landed  at  Staten  Island,  and  waited  at 
the  house  of  the  Vice-President  till  arrangements 
could  be  made  for  his  public  reception.  In  a  letter 
now  before  me,  written  to  my  father  from  Paris,  the 
General  had  said :  "  While  I  profoundly  feel  the 
honor  intended  by  the  offer  of  a  national  ship,  I  hope 
I  shall  incur  no  blame  by  the  determination  I  have 
taken  to  embark,  as  soon  as  it  is  in  my  power,  on 
board  a  private  vessel.  Whatever  port  I  shall  first 
attain,  I  shall  with  the  same  eagerness  hasten  to 
Boston,  and  present  its  beloved,  revered  inhabitants 
with  the  homage  of  my  affectionate  gratitude  and 
devoted  respect."  And  he  remained  true  to  his  in 
tention  to  "hasten  to  Boston,"  notwithstanding  the 
urgent  desire  of  the  New  York  committee  that  he 
should  remain  on  the  island  till  the  17th,  to  give 
them  more  time  to  prepare  for  his  reception.  His 
words,  as  reported  at  the  time,  were  these :  "  I  can 
not  remain  with  you,  for  I  must  be  in  Boston, 
that  I  may  visit  Cambridge  on  Commencement  Day, 


LAFAYETTE   IN   BOSTON.  103 

where  I  shall  meet  so  many  of  my  old  friends.  You 
know  my  attachment  to  you  all.  I  am  heartily  glad 
to  see  you ;  but  I  must  immediately  visit  Boston, 
and  will  return  to  you  again."  After  a  magnificent 
reception  from  the  Empire  City,  Lafayette  left  for 
Boston  on  the  20th  of  August,  attended  by  a  nu 
merous  civil  and  military  escort.  As  he  proceeded 
on  his  way,  the  whole  country  rose  to  behold  and 
welcome  him.  Every  town  and  village  through  which 
he  passed  was  ornamented  or  illuminated,  and  every 
testimony  of  gratitude  and  affection  which  imagina 
tion  could  devise  was  offered  to  the  nation's  guest. 

On  Tuesday,  the  24th  of  August,  as  an  officer 
of  the  Boston  Light  Infantry,  I  appeared  on  the 
Common  at  seven  o'clock.  About  eight  we  pro 
ceeded  to  the  Neck,  to  meet  the  General,  who  had 
spent  the  night  at  the  seat  of  Governor  Eustis,  in 
Koxbury.  The  military  was  accompanied  by  a  cav 
alcade  of  some  twelve  hundred  horsemen.  Of  these 
the  carters  and  woodwharfingers  of  the  city,  dressed 
in  frocks  of  snowy  whiteness,  were  very  conspicu 
ous.  They  had  the  effect  of  mounted  priests ;  and, 
being  priests  of  useful  labor,  which  had  built  up 
the  community,  they  were,  no  doubt,  as  honorable 
and  useful  as  if  they  had  received  ecclesiastical  ordi 
nation.  At  the  city  line,  where  we  had  a  good  wait, 
we  were  furnished  with  bread  and  cheese,  at  the 
expense  of  the  municipality,  and  (credite  postcri ! ) 
with  free  punch.  The  excellent  Dr.  Miner  had  not 
then  arrived  upon  the  scene,  and  we  had  no  one  to 
tell  us  that  the  provision  of  this  seductive  fluid  was 


104  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

an  unwarrantable  employment  of  the  city  funds. 
Had  any  one  proposed  to  provide  free  books  at  the 
expense  of  the  taxpayers,  there  would  have  been 
much  indignation.  We  should  have  been  aghast  at 
the  impudence  of  such  a  proposal ;  but  a  few  glasses 
of  punch  was  another  matter.  We  have  changed  our 
views  here  in  Boston  since  those  good  old  times,  and 
changed  them  much  for  our  advantage. 

The  first  sight  we  caught  of  the  General,  as  he 
drove  up  to  the  line  in  an  open  barouche,  drawn  by 
four  white  horses,  awakened  an  enthusiasm  which  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  describe.  The  remarkable  his 
tory  of  the  man,  which  the  events  of  a  stirring  half- 
century  have  now  obliterated  from  the  general  mind, 
was  then  fresh  and  well  known.  He  had  sounded 
all  the  depths  and  shoals  of  honor.  He  had  passed 
from  every  enjoyment  that  wealth  and  royal  favor 
could  bestow,  to  poverty  and  a  dungeon.  No  novel 
ist  would  dare  to  imagine  the  rapid  vicissitudes  which 
had  marked  his  life  since  he  had  left  America.  Here 
he  had  joined  our  fathers  in  their  glorious  contest 
for  liberty.  He  had  freely  given  us  his  money  and 
his  blood.  This  was  an  exceptional  republic  which 
he  had  established.  It  would  spurn  the  heartless 
proverb,  and  show  itself  not  ungrateful. 

We  took  up  the  line  of  march  in  inverted  order, 
and,  for  some  reason,  it  came  to  pass  that  I  led  the 
procession,  though  my  military  rank  did  not  entitle 
me  to  this  distinction.  We  passed  through  immense 
throngs,  with  all  the  noise  that  bells,  cannon,  and 
human  lungs  were  capable  of  producing.  Every 


LAFAYETTE   IN   BOSTON.  105 

countenance  fairly  beamed  with  admiration.  Every 
one  wore  a  Lafayette  badge  stamped  upon  blue  rib 
bon.  Here  is  mine,  fastened  upon  the  page  of  the 
journal  which  records  these  events.  It  is  a  little 
faded,  but  otherwise  is  in  excellent  preservation. 
Among  the  decorations  I  remember  an  arch  thrown 
across  Washington  Street,  inscribed  with  this  stanza, 
written  by  Charles  Sprague  :  — 

"Our  fathers  in  glory  shall  sleep 

That  gathered  with  thee  to  the  fight ; 
But  their  sons  will  eternally  keep 

The  tablet  of  gratitude  bright. 
We  bow  not  the  neck  and  we  bend  not  the  knee. 
But  our  hearts,  Lafayette,  we  surrender  to  thee." 

The  poet  here  hit  upon  the  right  word.  It  was  a 
surrender,  complete  and  without  conditions.  It  was 
universal ;  for  the  population  of  Boston  was  then  homo 
geneous  and  American,  and  the  cultivated  classes  of 
our  somewhat  stiff  and  exclusive  city  led  the  wild 
enthusiasm  of  the  streets.  When  we  reached  the 
State  House,  the  officers  of  the  militia  were  presented 
to  Lafayette ;  and  here  I  had  the  honor  of  begin 
ning  such  acquaintance  with  the  hero  as  a  young 
man,  totally  obscure,  may  have  with  an  illustrious 
personage  of  history.  The  same  evening  I  met  him 
in  private  at  my  father's  house,  and  had  the  privilege 
of  listening  to  his  conversation  with  the  older  mem 
bers  of  the  family.  George  Washington  Lafayette 
accompanied  his  father,  with  M.  Levasseur,  his  secre 
tary,  and  Colonel  Colden,  of  New  York.  I  fear  I  was 
too  busy  in  committing  the  Latin  oration  that  I  was 


106  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

to  give  the  next  day  to  take  much  note  of  what  was 
said.  I  had  been  on  my  feet  since  sunrise,  in  the 
character  of  a  soldier,  and  must  be  prepared  to  put 
on  a  gown  and  talk  Latin  on  the  morrow  in  the  char 
acter  of  a  scholar;  and  so  my  journal  shows  that  I 
did  not  feel  equal  to  playing  the  Bos  well,  as  I  really 
ought  to  have  done.  One  story  told  that  evening  by 
Dr.  Bowditch,  the  celebrated  mathematician,  I  am 
able  to  give.  He  said  that,  on  his  way  to  his  office, 
whence  he  intended  to  view  the  procession,  he  was 
stopped  on  Washington  Street,  which  he  was  about 
to  cross.  The  military  escort  was  passing,  and  he 
ascended  a  flight  of  steps  to  wait,  in  quiet  dignity, 
till  the  show  had  gone  by.  But  this  was  not  to  be; 
for  the  moment  he  saw  Lafayette  he  declared  that 
he  lost  all  self-command.  He  seemed  to  be  literally 
out  of  his  senses ;  and  when  he  recovered  them,  it 
was  to  find  himself  struggling  with  the  crowd  at  the 
side  of  the  barouche  and  huzzaing  with  all  his  might. 
Such  was  the  confession  of  the  great  Dr.  Bowditch. 
Those  who  did  not  have  his  weight  of  brains  to  keep 
them  steady  need  no  excuse  for  yielding  to  the 
excitement  of  the  time. 

I  have  already  given  some  account  of  the  memora 
ble  Commencement  of  Harvard,  and  of  the  master's 
valedictory,  which  my  classmate,  Withington,  had  gen 
erously  relinquished  to  me  on  that  occasion.  I  copy 
from  my  journal  the  entry  made  at  the  close  of  the 
succeeding  day :  — 

"  August  26,  1824.  —  Eode  to  Cambridge,  about 
nine,  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa. 


LAFAYETTE   IN   BOSTON.  107 

The  procession  of  about  two  hundred  members  entered 
the  church  about  twelve.  Again  Lafayette  was  be 
fore  us.  The  audience  was  as  great  as  the  one  which 
assembled  yesterday.  Mr.  Ware  gave  a  beautiful 
poem,  with  the  necessary  allusions  to  Lafayette ;  and 
then  Mr.  Everett  pronounced  an  oration  which  sur 
passed  all  I  had  ever  heard.  When,  toward  the  con 
clusion,  he  alluded  to  the  noble  conduct  of  our  guest 
in  procuring  a  ship  for  his  own  transportation,  at  a 
time  when  all  America  was  too  poor  to  offer  him  a 
passage  to  her  shores,  the  scene  was  overpowering. 
Every  man  in  the  assembly  was  in  tears'' 

I  believe  that  this  last  expression  was  literally 
true.  I  have  heard  the  great  orators  of  my  day  at 
their  best ;  but  it  was  never  given  to  any  one  of 
them  to  lift  up  an  audience  as  Everett  did  upon 
this  occasion.  I  can  conceive  of  nothing  more  mag 
nificent  in  the  way  of  oratory.  Many  who  have 
listened  to  Mr.  Everett's  polished  periods  during  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  may  question  the  supreme  effect 
he  produced.  They  will  say  that  he  was  by  nature 
a  conservative,  seldom  in  sympathy  with  the  heart 
of  popular  feeling,  and  that  there  was  always  a  sus 
picion  of  a  chill  upon  his  matchless  rhetoric.  I  can 
only  say  that  the  words  he  spoke  that  day  in  the 
venerable  church  in  Cambridge  were  as  full  of  fire 
as  of  music.  Eobertson,  the  historian,  calls  the  elo 
quence  of  Cicero  "  a  splendid  conflagration."  To 
those  to  whom  this  term  has  any  meaning,  it  will 
give  all  that  language  can  suggest  of  the  nature  of 
the  great  oratorical  triumph  of  Edward  Everett.  It 


108  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

is  just  possible  that  among  my  readers  there  may  be 
found  some  venerable  man  who  was  present  upon 
that  occasion.  If  so,  I  confidently  appeal  to  him  to 
say  whether  I  have  exaggerated  —  whether  it  is  pos 
sible  that  I  could  exaggerate  —  the  magnificent  power 
with  which  the  orator  lifted  that  great  assembly. 
For  such  a  possible  reader  I  cannot  resist  quoting 
the  language  of  Everett,  to  bring  back  the  wonderful 
scene  we  witnessed  together.  Those  to  whom  the 
following  paragraph  is  only  so  many  printed  words 
will,  at  least,  gather  from  them  the  historical  inter 
est  of  the  occasion  which  so  unsealed  the  lips  of  the 
most  cautious  of  orators.  They  may  serve  to  justify 
the  preservation  of  those  reminiscences  of  the  visit 
of  Lafayette  which  I  shall  hereafter  offer. 

"  Welcome,  friend  of  our  fathers,  to  our  shores ! 
Happy  are  our  eyes  that  behold  those  venerable 
features !  Enjoy  a  triumph  such  as  never  conqueror 
or  monarch  enjoyed,  —  the  assurance  that  throughout 
America  there  is  not  a  bosom  which  does  not  beat 
with  joy  and  gratitude  at  the  sound  of  your  name. 
You  have  already  met  and  saluted,  or  will  soon  meet, 
the  few  that  remain  of  the  ardent  patriots,  prudent 
counsellors,  and  brave  warriors  with  whom  you  were 
associated  in  achieving  our  liberty.  But  you  have 
looked  round  in  vain  for  the  faces  of  many  who 
would  have  lived  years  of  pleasure  on  a  day  like 
this,  with  their  old  companion  in  arms  and  brother 
in  peril.  Lincoln  and  Greene,  Knox  and  Hamil 
ton,  are  gone ;  the  heroes  of  Saratoga  and  Yorktown 
have  fallen  before  the  only  foe  they  could  not  meet. 


LAFAYETTE   IN    BOSTON.  109 

Above  all,  the  first  of  heroes  and  of  men,  the  friend 
of  your  youth,  the  more  than  friend  of  his  country, 
rests  in  the  bosom  of  the  soil  he  redeemed.  On  the 
banks  of  his  Potomac  he  lies  in  glory  and  in  peace. 
You  will  revisit  the  hospitable  shades  of  Mt.  Vernon  ; 
but  him  whom  you  venerated  as  we  did  you  will  not 
meet  at  its  door.  His  voice  of  consolation,  which 
reached  you  in  the  Austrian  dungeons,  cannot  now 
break  its  silence,  to  bid  you  welcome  to  his  own  roof. 
But  the  grateful  children  of  America  will  bid  you 
welcome  in  his  name.  Welcome  !  thrice  welcome  to 
our  shores  !  And  whithersoever  throughout  the  limits 
of  the  continent  your  course  shall  take  you,  the  ear 
that  hears  you  shall  bless  you,  the  eye  that  sees  you 
shall  bear  witness  to  you,  and  every  tongue  exclaim, 
with  heartfelt  joy,  Welcome  !  Welcome  !  Lafayette  !" 
The  voice  of  the  orator  ceased  and  there  was  per 
fect  silence.  It  seemed  as  if  it  could  never  be  broken. 
The  lift  was  altogether  too  great  for  immediate  ap 
plause.  When  the  response  came,  at  last,  it  was 
something  never  to  be  forgotten. 


LAFAYETTE  AND   COLONEL  HUGER 


"j^TOTHING  could  have  been  more  perfect  than 
•*•  ^  the  weather  of  that  jubilee  week  when  Boston 
first  welcomed  Lafayette.  Not  a  drop  of  rain  de 
scended  during  the  day ;  but  during  the  night  showers 
were  abundant,  and  these  laid  the  dust  and  covered 
the  country  with  verdure.  On  Sunday  it  was  sup 
posed  that  the  General  would  attend  the  Catholic 
Church.  "  Oh,  no  !  "  said  he.  "  Let  me  go  to  Brattle 
Street  Meeting-house  and  sit  in  Governor  Hancock's 
pew.  There  I  used  to  attend  the  services  of  my  good 
friend,  Dr.  Cooper,  and  I  should  feel  strange  in  any 
other  place  of  worship."  And  there  he  did  go ;  and 
the  clergyman  who  preached  upon  that  occasion  was 
the  historian  of  New  England,  the  then  Reverend  and 
afterwards  Honorable  John  G.  Palfrey.  On  the 
afternoon  of  Sunday,  in  spite  of  the  Massachusetts 
statute  which  made  his  conduct  illegal,  the  General 
drove  to  Quincy,  to  dine  with  the  venerable  John 
Adams.  But.  out  of  respect  to  the  day,  the  four 
white  horses  which  drew  him  about  were  summarily 
cut  down  to  two,  and  it  is  worth  while  to  notice 
that  from  the  crowds  which  assembled  to  see  him 
pass,  in  the  town  of  Quincy,  there  arose  no  sound 


LAFAYETTE   AND   COLONEL   HUGER.  Ill 

of  welcome.  I  mention  this  fact  as  an  interest 
ing  testimony  to  the  respect  for  the  Sabbath  that 
was  at  that  time  entertained  by  a  very  mixed  body 
of  sightseers.  Of  course,  on  a  week-day  no  police 
would  have  been  strong  enough  to  repress  the  shout 
ing. 

The  General  was  to  stop  to  make  a  friendly  visit 
at  my  father's  house  in  Quincy,  and  it  was  an  inter 
esting  moment  when  we  saw  his  carriage  driven  down 
the  avenue.  "  I  have  been  at  this  house  before,"  said 
Lafayette,  after  he  had  greeted  us  all  with  his  tender 
French  cordiality.  "  I  was  here  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary  War,  as  the  guest  of  your  great-grandfather." 
And  there  happened  to  be  a  daughter  of  his  former 
host  there  present,  my  great-aunt  Storer,  then  in 
her  ninetieth  year.  She  was  much  overcome  on 
again  meeting  Lafayette,  and  declared  that  his  pres 
ence  took  her  back  among  the  trials  and  sufferings 
of  the  Revolution.  During  this  visit  my  sister  has 
noted,  in  a  journal  which  she  has  kindly  lent  me, 
that  "Washington  Lafayette  talked  more  than  ever 
before  and  appeared  to  better  advantage.  His  man 
ners  were  not  prepossessing,  and  he  generally  moved 
about  as  if  depressed  by  the  gigantic  shadow  cast  by 
his  father.  His  position  was  in  some  respects  awk 
ward  ;  but  on  this  occasion  he  came  out  of  his  shell, 
—  at  least  to  the  ladies  of  the  family.  He  confessed 
to  them  that  he  was  so  affected  by  the  scenes  he  wit 
nessed  and  the  manner  in  which  his  father  was  received 
that  he  had  great  difficulty  in  commanding  himself. 
His  may  have  been  one  of  those  not  uncommon 


112  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

characters  whose  extreme  sensitiveness  conceals  itself 
under  the  mask  of  indifference.  He  was  not  popu 
lar  ;  but  the  opinion  of  the  time  very  likely  did  him 
injustice. 

On  Monday  the  reception  culminated  in  a  grand 
militia  review,  which  was  finer  than  anything  which 
had  then  taken  place  in  Boston.  There  were  two 
hundred  tents  on  the  Common,  beside  a  huge  marquee, 
in  which  twelve  hundred  people  sat  down  to  dinner. 
The  crowds  which  flocked  in  from  the  country  had 
a  peculiarity  which  moved  the  astonishment  of  a 
gentleman  from  New  York.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  all 
these  people  are  of  one  race,  and  they  behave  like 
members  of  one  family ;  whereas  with  us  a  crowd 
is  an  assembly  of  all  the  nations  upon  earth."  I 
did  military  duty  for  thirteen  hours,  and  when  at 
length  allowed  to  take  off  my  soldier's  clothes,  at 
tended  a  brilliant  reception  given  by  the  General  to 
the  ladies  of  the  city.  This  was  held  at  the  house 
forming  the  corner  of  Park  and  Beacon  Streets.  The 
rooms  were  finely  decorated,  having,  among  other 
interesting  objects,  pictures  of  the  first  five  Presi 
dents,  all  taken  by  Stuart.  But  this  brilliant  scene 
was  not  to  end  the  day.  "  After  the  reception,"  to 
quote  from  my  journal,  "  I  proceeded  to  Mr.  W.  H. 
Eliot's,  where  I  was  an  active  and  efficient  manager 
(I  will  not  suppress  the  egotism)  to  a  most  delight 
ful  ball.  One  of  the  rooms  was  ornamented  with  the 
General's  portrait,  surrounded  by  wreaths  of  flowers. 
When  the  original  entered,  the  dancing  ceased  at  once 
and  the  band  broke  into  a  march." 


LAFAYETTE  AND  COLONEL  HUGER.      113 

And  so  we  Boston  people  received  the  guest  of 
America,  on  his  first  visit  to  oar  city,  fifty-six  years 
ago.  As  I  shall  have  something  to  say  of  his  second 
visit,  on  the  memorable  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  I  pass  over  other  incidents 
to  introduce  a  gallant  gentleman,  whose  name  was 
intimately  associated  with  that  of  the  hero  who  had 
won  our  hearts.  During  his  visit  Lafayette  once 
exclaimed,  with  ardor,  in  my  presence  :  "  There  is 
one  man  in  America  whom,  of  all  others,  I  long  to 
meet,  —  a  man  whom  I  saw  but  for  ten  minutes,  and 
this  was  thirty  years  ago ;  but  I  saw  him  under  cir 
cumstances  which  engraved  his  countenance  forever 
upon  my  mind.  I  count  the  moments  till  I  can  em 
brace  my  good  friend,  Colonel  Huger,  of  South  Caro 
lina."  This  gentleman  was  well  known  as  the  hero 
of  the  attempt  to  rescue  Lafayette  from  the  Austrian 
prison,  where  he  was  held  during  a  miserable  cap 
tivity  of  more  than  five  years.  The  General  seldom 
alluded  to  his  prison  life.  Its  details  were  too  shock 
ing  to  recall.  He  had  been  seized  for  the  republican 
sentiments  he  was  known  to  profess,  and  told  that 
he  should  never  leave  his  narrow  and  filthy  dungeon. 
He  was  deprived  of  the  commonest  conveniences  of 
life,  and  for  a  long  time  his  family  and  friends  could 
get  no  evidence  of  his  fate.  At  length,  the  physician 
of  the  prison  made  a  formal  statement  to  the  Austrian 
Government  that  the  prisoner  would  die  unless  he 
were  allowed  to  breathe  a  purer  air.  The  petition 
was  returned,  indorsed  with  this  official  reply  :  "  No ; 
he  is  not  sick  enough  yet."  At  length  an  outcry 

8 


114  FIGURES   OF   THE    PAST. 

of  public  indignation  in  Europe  and  America  forced 
his  keepers  to  permit  Lafayette  to  take  occasional 
exercise  in  a  carriage,  accompanied  by  two  soldiers. 
It  was  during  one  of  these  rides  that  his  rescue 
was  attempted.  Soon  after  Lafayette  returned  to 
New  York,  my  family  received  letters  from  him, 
introducing  the  gentleman  he  had  so  longed  to 
meet. 

The  position  of  a  young  lawyer  whose  services  are 
not  demanded  by  numerous  clients  is  rather  discourag 
ing.  Nevertheless  the  situation  has  its  advantages, 
as  I  found  when  it  appeared  that  I  was  the  only 
member  of  the  family  who  could  command  the  leisure 
to  attend  to  Colonel  Huger.  It  devolved  upon  me 
to  drive  this  interesting  person  about  the  environs  of 
Boston,  and  to  introduce  him  to  sucli  gentlemen  as 
he  desired  to  meet.  On  different  occasions  we  drove 
in  a  chaise  (in  those  days  there  were  no  four-wheeled 
vehicles  for  two  persons)  to  Cambridge,  Roxbury,  and 
Chariest-own,  and  visited  together  Governor  Eustis, 
Governor  Brooks,  Commodore  Bainbridge,  John  Ad 
ams,  and  other  personages  of  distinction.  My  com 
panion  had  all  that  charm  of  a  high-bred  Southerner 
which  wrought  such  peculiar  fascination  upon  those 
inheriting  Puritan  blood.  But,  besides  this,  there 
was  his  romantic  association  with  the  attempted 
rescue  of  Lafayette ;  and  Scott's  novels,  then  in  the 
full  blossom  of  their  popularity,  celebrated  no  hero 
whose  adventures  seemed  more  chivalrous  and  thrill 
ing.  "  I  simply  considered  myself  the  representative 
of  the  young  men  of  America,  and  acted  accordingly," 


LAFAYETTE   AND   COLONEL   HUGER.  115 

said  Huger,  modestly,  when  a  lady  expressed  the 
feelings  of  admiration  with  which  he  was  universally 
regarded.  But  there  was  no  false  modesty  about  the 
man,  and  upon  proper  occasions  he  was  willing  to 
tell  the  story,  which  every  one  who  met  him  was 
desirous  to  hear.  I  not  only  heard  him  give  the 
narrative  more  than  once,  but  during  our  drives  had 
the  opportunity  of  questioning  him  upon  every  de 
tail.  Moreover,  there  is  a  journal  before  me  in  which 
his  words  were  taken  down  an  hour  after  they  were 
uttered.  From  these  sources  I  shall  be  able  to  record, 
in  a  future  paper,  the  story  of  the  attempted  rescue 
substantially  as  it  came  from  his  own  lips. 

In  easy  conversation,  one  day,  at  my  father's  table, 
the  Colonel  told  us  something  of  his  history  subse 
quent  to  this  event.  He  had  married  a  daughter  of 
I.  Pinkney,  Esq.,  and  soon  after  purchased  an  estate 
on  the  high  hills  of  Santee,  about  a  hundred  miles 
from  Charleston,  where  he  established  his  family. 
His  wife,  though  very  young,  brought  up  in  the  gay 
est  society,  and  even  accustomed  to  the  splendor  of 
a  court  (her  father  had  been  our  minister  to  Eng 
land),  accepted  the  change  with  cheerfulness.  "  Arid 
here,"  said  Huger,  "  I  have  resided  ever  since,  occu 
pied  in  taking  care  of  my  farm  and  in  educating  a 
family  of  eleven  children."  He  mentioned  that  the 
condition  of  the  slaves  in  the  part  of  Carolina  where 
he  lived  was  much  less  painful  and  degrading  than 
on  the  lowlands  by  the  seaboard.  "  I  am  not 
wealthy,"  he  said,  "  and  arn  contemplating  a  further 
remove  toward  the  mountains.  The  land  there  is 


116  FIGURES    OF   THE    PAST. 

cheaper  and  richer,  and  I  may  acquire  more  prop 
erty  to  divide  among  my  children."  He  told  us 
that  his  visit  to  the  North,  was  solely  to  meet  La 
fayette  ;  but,  after  he  had  seen  him,  he  felt  a  desire 
to  see  the  New  England  States,  and  so  had  come  to 
Boston. 

Among  the  houses  to  which  I  took  Colonel  Huger, 
none  was  pleasanter  than  that  of  Professor  Tick  nor. 
This  gentleman,  afterward  so  well  known  in  the 
world  of  letters,  then  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  hav 
ing  seen  Europe ;  and  in  those  days  this  was  a  dis 
tinction,  almost  as  great  a  one  as  not  to  have  run  across 
the  ocean  is  now.  There  seemed  to  be  a  cosmopolitan 
spaciousness  about  his  very  vestibule.  He  received 
company  with  great  ease,  and  a  simple  supper  was 
always  served  to  his  evening  visitors.  Prescott, 
Everett,  Webster,  Hillard,  and  other  noted  Bosto- 
nians  —  well  mixed  with  the  pick  of  such  strangers 
as  happened  to  be  in  the  city  —  furnished  a  social 
entertainment  of  the  first  quality.  Politics  —  at  least 
American  politics  —  were  never  mentioned ;  but  di 
plomacy,  travels,  literature,  and  science  furnished 
inexhaustible  topics  for  conversation.  The  host  was 
an  admirable  narrator,  and  gave  his  foreign  expe 
riences  with  such  spirit  that  they  would  stick  in 
the  memory.  In  proof  of  which,  there  comes  to  me 
a  little  scene  he  described  at  Almack's,  the  fashion 
able  and  exclusive  ball-room  of  London.  "  I  was 
standing,"  said  Mr.  Tickntfr,  "  by  Lady  Jersey,  who 
was  the  patroness  of  the  ball.  It  was  past  eleven 
o'clock,  and  the  rule  had  been  made  that  no  one 


LAFAYETTE  AND  COLONEL  HUGER.      117 

should  be  admitted  after  that  hour.  Suddenly  there 
was  a  commotion,  and  word  was  brought  to  Lady 
Jersey  that  the  I)uke  of  Wellington  was  below  and 
desired  to  enter.  "  Tell  his  Grace,"  said  the  Lady, 
"that 'I  am  happy  in  declining  to  admit  one  after 
whom  no  one  will  presume  to  apply."  The  story 
showed  that  British  snobbishness  to  rank  and  title 
was  not  without  its  limits,  and  that  a  woman  who 
is  ready  enough  may  mix  a  compliment  with  a  re 
fusal  that  will  dull  the  force  of  the  blow. 

I  failed  to  mention  that  during  Lafayette's  first 
visit  Mr.  Ticknor  gave  him  a  supper-party,  which 
was  marked  by  a  little  ceremony  that  had  quite  a 
foreign  grace  about  it.  A  likeness  of  Lafayette, 
engraved  upon  bright  red  paper,  was  found  under 
the  glass  by  the  side  of  each  plate.  As  the  guests 
seated  themselves  at  the  table,  every  one,  except  the 
General,  took  up  the  picture  and  pinned  it  upon  some 
part  of  the  dress,  where  it  looked  like  the  decoration 
of  a  noble  order.  This  arrangement,  if  I  may  trust 
the  statement  of  the  journal  before  me,  was  devised 
by  M.  Wallenstein,  a  gentleman  attached  to  the 
Eussian  legation,  and  whom  John  Quincy  Adams 
had  pronounced  the  most  intelligent  member  of  the 
diplomatic  corps  he  ever  met  in  the  United  States. 
Though  very  plain  in  person,  Wallenstein  had  great 
personal  fascination.  I  met  him  frequently  about 
this  time,  at  my  father's  house,  as  well  as  that  of 
Mr.  Ticknor.  To  say  that  he  was  an  object  of  inter 
est  and  attention  in  Boston  even  while  Lafayette 
was  with  us,  is  to  sound  his  praises  to  the  utmost. 


118  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

Wallenstein  remained  some  years  in  this  country, 
published  a  translation  of  the  letters  of  Madame  de 
liiedesel,  and  made  hosts  of  friends.  He  was  after 
ward  transferred  to  a  diplomatic  station  in  South 
America,  where  he  married  a  Portuguese  lady,  and 
died  in  1845. 


HOW  COLONEL  HUGEE  TOLD  THE  STOEY. 


I  FULFIL  the  promise  made  in  rny  last  paper  by 
giving  the  story  of  the  attempted  rescue  of  La 
fayette  as  told  by  Colonel  Huger  when  dining  at  my 
father's  house  in  Quincy,  October  3,  1825.  The  re 
port,  of  course,  is  not  stenographic ;  but  as  it  is  chiefly 
taken  from  very  copious  notes  made  at  the  time  by 
my  sister,  Miss  E.  S.  Quincy,  the  reader  may  rely 
upon  its  substantial  accuracy. 

"  When  I  first  saw  Lafayette  I  was  a  child  three 
years  old.  By  a  singular  accident  my  father's 
house,  on  North  Island,  South  Carolina,  was  the 
first  American  roof  which  sheltered  him.  Late  one 
night  in  the  year  1776  our  family  was  alarmed  by 
a  loud  knocking  at  the  door.  Fearing  an  attack 
of  the  enemy,  we  barred  our  windows  and  refused 
admittance.  At  length  we  were  made  to  understand 
that  the  applicants  were  the  Marquis  de  la  Fayette 
and  the  Baron  de  Kalb.  They  had  taken  to  their 
boat,  to  avoid  British  cruisers,  and  had  been  directed 
by  some  of  our  servants  to  my  father's  house.  They 
were  of  course  admitted,  with  every  token  of  wel 
come  and  hospitality,  and,  accompanied  by  my  father, 
left  after  a  day's  delay  for  Charleston,  from  whence 


120  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

they  at  once  proceeded  to  the  American  army.  Young 
as  I  then  was,  the  incident  made  no  distinct  impres 
sion  upon  my  mind." 

After  a  short  pause,  Colonel  Huger  proceeded  to 
the  events  that  led  to  his  second  meeting  with  La 
fayette. 

"  The  merit  of  the  contrivance  to  rescue  Lafayette 
from  the  Castle  at  Olmutz  belongs  not  to  me,  but  to 
Dr.  Bollmann.  He  was  a  Hanoverian  physician,  of 
great  courage  and  address,  who  had  been  engaged  by 
friends  of  Lafayette  to  discover  his  prison  and  at 
tempt  his  rescue.  Bollmann  commenced  his  search 
in  1793,  but  for  some  time  could  only  learn  that  the 
Eussian  Government  had  given  Austria  the  custody 
of  this  dangerous  republican,  and  that  he  was  proba 
bly  somewhere  in  that  country.  The  next  year,  after 
many  ineffectual  attempts,  he  found  out  that  certain 
French  prisoners  had  been  taken  to  Olmutz,  a  strong 
fortress  in  Moravia.  Suspecting  Lafayette  might  be 
one  of  them,  Bollmann  at  once  repaired  to  Olmutz, 
where  he  managed  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the 
military  surgeon  of  the  fortress.  Eepresenting  him 
self  to  be  a  physician,  travelling  for  improvement,  he 
inquired  one  day,  as  if  from  idle  curiosity,  whether 
there  were  any  French  prisoners  in  the  fortress.  '  Oh, 
yes,'  was  the  reply ;  '  and  Lafayette  is  among  them.' 
Bollmann  then  mentioned  that  he  had  some  French 
books  with  him  that  he  would  gladly  lend  this  famous 
prisoner.  He  was  informed  that  this  would  be  per 
mitted,  provided  the  books  were  inspected  by  the 
proper  officer.  The  books  were  accordingly  sent ;  but 


HOW   COLONEL   HUGER  TOLD   THE   STORY.        121 

in  one  of  them,  upon  the  margins  of  separate  pages, 
Bollmann  had  scrawled  words  which,  when  put  to 
gether,  formed  the  following  sentence :  '  If  you  read 
this  look  with  as  much  care  as  that  lent  your  friend  at 
Magdeburg,  you  will  receive  equal  satisfaction'     The 
person  referred  to  had  received  an  account  of  con 
certed  plans  for  his  escape  from  prison  written  in 
lemon-juice  on  the  blank  pages  of  a  book.     Lafay 
ette  understood  the  allusion,  and,  holding  the  book 
to  the  fire,  soon  deciphered  a  request  to  instruct  his 
friends   how  to  attempt   his  rescue.     The  book  was 
then  returned,  and  Bollmann,  upon  examining  closely, 
found  the  words   '  Hold  it  to  the  fire '  written  upon 
one  of  its  pages.     On  obeying  the  direction,  he  found 
that  he  had  been  understood.    Lafayette  informed  him 
that  he  was  frequently  allowed  to  drive  for  his  health, 
and,  as  he  was  personally  unknown  to  Bollmann,  he 
mentioned  a  signal  by  which  he  might  be  recognized 
if  they  should   meet.     This  was  all  he   could   say. 
Everything  else  was  left  to  the  courage  and  ingenuity 
of  this  adventurous  doctor.     The  volume  lent  and  re 
turned  was  the  only  communication  he  ever  had  with 
Lafayette. 

"  A  short  time  after  this/'  continued  Colonel  Huger, 
"  I  met  Dr.  Bollmann  at  Vienna,  where  he  confided 
to  me  his  plans  and  begged  my  assistance.  I  felt  it  my 
duty  to  give  him  all  the  aid  in  my  power.  We  hired  a 
post-chaise  and  a  servant ;  also  two  horses,  one  of  them 
trained  to  carry  double.  We  then  set  off  for  Olmutz, 
a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Upon  our 
arrival,  we  sent  the  servant  and  the  chaise  on  to  Hoff, 


122  FIGURES   OF   THE  PAST. 

a  post-town  twenty-five  miles  from  Olmutz,  on  the 
road  we  wished  to  travel.     We  mounted  our  horses 
apparently  to  follow  him,  but  in  fact  to  endeavor 
to   meet  Lafayette.      Our  pistols  were   not   loaded, 
and  we  took  no  other  arms.     We  had  no  intention  of 
taking  life  to  forward  our  design.     It  was  the  hour 
when  we  knew  that  Lafayette  was  allowed  to  ride. 
We  rode  toward  the  castle ;  and,  upon  n earing  the 
walls,  saw  an  open  carriage,  in  which  was  seated  a 
prisoner  in  a  blue  surtout,  witli  an  officer  beside  him 
and  an  armed  soldier  mounted  behind.    As  we  passed, 
the  prisoner  gave  the  signal  agreed  upon  by  raising 
his  hat  and  wiping  his  forehead  with  his  handker 
chief.     The  feelings  excited  by  this  assurance  that 
the  prisoner  was  indeed  Lafayette  I  can  never  for 
get.      We  looked  as  indifferent  as  possible,  bowed 
slightly,  and  rode  on.     Presently  we  turned  and  fol 
lowed  the  carriage.     When  it  reached  the  open  coun 
try,  Lafayette  alighted,  on   the   pretence   of   taking 
exercise.    He  gradually  drew  the  officer  who  had  him 
in  charge  away  from  the  high  road.     Suddenly  he 
grasped  the  hilt  of  the  officer's  sword  and  drew  it. 
At  that  moment  we  galloped  up  to  his  assistance.     A 
scuffle  ensued,  the  officer  was  slightly  wounded,  and 
Lafayette's   coat  was  stained  with  his   blood.      The 
soldier  meantime  hurried  back  to  the  castle,  to  give 
the  alarm.     An  unlucky  incident  here  occurred.    We 
had  dismounted,  and  one  of  our  horses,  frightened  by 
the  sun  gleaming  upon  the  drawn  swords,  ran  away. 
The  officer  now  seized  Lafayette  by  the  collar  and 
succeeded  in  throwing  him.     The  latter  exclaimed, 


HOW   COLONEL   HUGER   TOLD   THE   STORY.       123 

1  He  is  strangling  me  ! '  We  then  attacked  the  officer, 
threw  him,  and  held  him  down,  calling  to  Lafayette 
to  mount  the  only  remaining  horse  and  escape.  I 
said  to  him,  'Go  to  Hoff!'  a  direction  which  Lafay 
ette  most  unfortunately  mistook  for  the  English 
phrase  '  Go  off!'  If  I  had  only  spoken  in  French, 
and  said  Allez  a  Ho/,  our  plan  would  have  succeeded. 
Lafayette  mounted  and  rode  slowly  away ;  but  im 
mediately  returned  and  declared  that  he  could  not 
leave  us  in  such  a  situation.  We  reminded  him  that 
not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost,  and  besought  him  not 
to  frustrate  our  design.  With  great  reluctance,  he 
then  galloped  slowly  away.  We  then  let  the  officer 
escape,  and,  after  much  difficulty,  I  succeeded  in 
catching  our  other  horse.  We  mounted  and  at 
tempted  to  follow  Lafayette.  But,  unfortunately, 
the  horse  that  he  had  taken  was  the  one  we  had 
trained  to  carry  double.  The  horse  we  were  com 
pelled  to  mount  soon  reared,  stumbled,  and  threw  us. 
It  was  impossible  for  us  both  to  escape.  I  then  in 
sisted  that  Bollmann  should  take  the  horse  and  follow 
Lafayette  alone.  He  declared  that  he  could  not  leave 
me ;  but,  upon  my  reminding  him  that  he  could  be 
of  great  assistance  to  Lafayette,  through  his  knowl 
edge  of  the  German  language,  of  which  I  was  igno 
rant,  he  reluctantly  decided  to  go. 

"  My  situation  was  a  forlorn  one.  In  a  few  moments 
the  whole  country  would  be  in  pursuit  of  us.  But  I 
resolved  to  lose  no  chance  that  remained.  I  hurried 
toward  a  convent,  that  appeared  upon  a  neighboring 
hill.  Soon  I  heard  voices  behind  me,  and  took  refuge 


124  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

in  a  wood.  I  hid  myself  behind  a  tree,  determined 
to  strike  the  first  horseman  to  the  ground  and  to 
mount  his  horse.  But  rny  pursuers  were  too  numer 
ous.  I  was  instantly  surrounded,  seized,  and  carried 
to  Olmutz." 

The  characteristic  delicacy  of  Colonel  Huger  led 
him  to  pass  slightly  over  his  sufferings  while  in 
prison.  For  ten  days  he  was  treated  with  the  ut 
most  rigor.  He  was  chained  to  the  floor  of  a  small 
arched  dungeon  six  feet  by  eight,  from  which  light 
was  totally  excluded.  His  request  to  be  allowed  to 
send  the  words  "/  am  alive"  to  his  mother  was 
rudely  refused. 

Colonel  Huger  continued  his  narrative  thus  :  — 
"  After  the  rigor  of  my  imprisonment  was  abated 
by  a  removal  from  the  dark  dungeon,  I  discovered 
that  Bollmann  was  in  the  apartment  above  me.  We 
soon  contrived  to  hold  some  communication,  and 
from  him  I  first  learned  the  total  defeat  of  our  plan. 
He  had  reached  Hoff;  but,  not  finding  Lafayette,  he 
lingered  on  the  frontier  till  he  was  arrested  and  sent 
to  Olmutz.  I  have  already  explained  the  misunder 
standing  of  my  direction  'Go  to  Hoff!'  which  frus 
trated  our  design.  Lafayette,  thinking  that  he  wras 
only  told  to  go  off,  wandered  into  the  village  of  Za- 
gorsdorf,  where  he  was  stopped  as  a  suspicious-looking 
person,  his  clothes  being  stained  with  blood.  We 
were  all  three  brought  back  to  Olmutz,  and  confined 
there  separately,  ignorant  of  one  another's  condition. 
When  our  trial  came  on,  a  young  man  who  served  as 
our  interpreter  became  deeply  interested  in  our  fate, 


HOW    COLONEL    HUGER    TOLD   THE   STORY.        125 

and  told  our  story  to  Count  Metro  wsky,  an  influen 
tial  person  residing  in  the  neighborhood.  Touched 
by  the  conduct  and  sufferings  of  two  men  he  had 
never  seen,  this  nobleman  gave  our  young  interpreter 
the  command  of  his  purse,  and  the  judges  of  the  tri 
bunal  were  bribed  to  such  effect  that,  after  an  im 
prisonment  of  eight  months,  we  were  released.  We 
had  just  cleared  the  Austrian  dominions,  when  an 
order  commanding  a  new  trial  reached  Olrnutz  from 
Vienna.  Had  we  been  there  to  meet  it,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  result  would  have  been  a  sentence 
of  death. 

"When  I  met  Lafayette,  the  other  day,  in  New 
York,  I  had  not  seen  him  for  thirty  years.  Deter 
mined  that  our  meeting  should  have  no  witnesses,  I 
went  to  the  house  that  had  been  assigned  to  him, 
early  in  the  morning,  and  was  admitted  before  he  left 
his  chamber.  He  remained  in  prison  three  years 
after  the  event  I  have  related.  He  was  told  that  we 
had  been  taken  and  sentenced  to  execution,  but  was 
not  informed  of  our  liberation.  For  months  he  daily 
expected  to  see  us  taken  out  to  be  shot." 

"While  Colonel  Huger  was  speaking,"  writes  the 
lady  to  whom  the  reader  of  this  narrative  is  indebted 
for  its  preservation,  "the  countenances  of  his  little 
audience  round  the  table  expressed  alternate  hope 
and  fear,  joy  and  anxiety.  The  interest  of  the  most 
highly  wrought  novel  was  not  surpassed  jy  that  of 
the  story,  as  it  fell  from  the  lips  of  one  of  the  chief 
actors,  himself  the  best  personification  of  a  real  hero 
we  had  ever  seen." 


126  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

Before  returning  to  the  city,  Colonel  Huger  amused 
the  ladies  of  the  family  by  the  account  of  a  play  then 
very  popular  at  the  theatres  of  New  York.  It  was 
called  the  "  Castle  of  Olmutz,"  and  he  figured  in  it  as  a 
conspicuous  character.  "  But  are  you  not  the  hero  ? " 
asked  one  of  his  admirers.  "Oh  no,  indeed,"  was 
the  reply.  "  Heroes  are  always  married  at  the  end  of 
the  play,  and  I  am  not  so  fortunate.  I  am  repre 
sented,  however,  as  desperately  in  love  with  the 
daughter  of  the  governor  of  the  castle,  and  I  am 
left  in  the  same  unhappy  situation  at  the  end  of  the 
play.  I  have  always  had  a  particular  aversion  to 
romantic  love-stories,  and  little  thought  I  should 
ever  see  myself  figuring  in  one  of  them."  * 

1  Since  this  paper  appeared,  an  account  of  the  attempted  rescue 
of  Lafayette,  written  by  the  late  Miss  Elizabeth  Huger,  has  been 
published  at  Charleston.  This  pamphlet  gives  the  facts  with  greater 
fulness  and  with  more  detail  than  can  any  less  authoritative  state 
ment  of  them;  but  there  seems  to  be  nothing  to  correct  in  the 
above  report  of  Colonel  Huger's  words. 


LAFAYETTE   ON  BUNKER  HILL. 


"  the  30th  of  June,  fifty-five  years  ago,  Adju- 
tant-General  Sumner  sent  me  a  notice  that 
Governor  Lincoln,  of  Massachusetts,  had  appointed  me 
one  of  his  aids.  This  was  an  honor  unexpected  and 
undesired.  It  was  unexpected,  because  Governor  Lin 
coln  was  a  Democrat,  while  my  family  were  prominent, 
and  some  would  have  said  fanatical,  Federalists.  It 
was  undesired,  because  I  was  loath  to  leave  my  posi 
tion  in  the  Boston  Light  Infantry ;  which,  under  the 
name  of  the  Tigers,  was  the  crack  company  of  the 
city.  My  friends,  however,  insisted  upon  my  accept 
ance  of  the  appointment ;  their  argument  being  that 
Lincoln  had  taken  this  method  of  showing  that  his 
administration  was  not  to  be  partisan,  and  that  this 
was  a  compliment  to  his  opponents  of  the  Federal 
party  which  it  would  be  highly  discourteous  to  decline. 
I  accordingly  accepted  the  honor  with  promptness, 
and  was  at  once  commissioned.  My  fellow-aids, 
whose  appointments  bore  the  same  date,  took  time 
for  consideration.  And  thus  it  happened  that  I,  by 
far  the  youngest  of  the  group,  became  senior  aid,  and 
consequently  master  of  ceremonies  during  the  second 
visit  of  Lafayette  to  Boston. 


128  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

Let  me  here  say  a  word  of  the  pleasant  relations 
which  for  nine  years  I  sustained  with  Governor  Lin 
coln.  In  our  many  journeys  about  the  State,  —  which 
were  then  journeys ;  not,  as  in  these  days,  merely 
arrivals  —  he  impressed  rne  as  a  noble  man,  a  kind 
friend,  and  a  good  officer.  I  mention  him  in  this  lat 
ter  capacity  because  he  was  our  last  governor  who 
appeared  in  full  uniform  and  reviewed  the  troops  on 
horseback.  His  aids  were,  of  course,  mounted  also ; 
and  wre  took  care  to  have  good  horses  that  should  not 
be  shamed  by  General  Sumner's  fine  animal,  "  Pea 
cock."  And,  as  the  saying  is,  horses  and  riders  alike 
"  felt  their  oats."  We  galloped  past  the  country  mili 
tia,  as  they  appeared  before  us  in  review,  feeling 
probably  as  important  as  the  staffs  of  royalty  whose 
military  manoeuvres  are  now  depicted  in  the  illus 
trated  papers. 

The  second  visit  of  Lafayette  to  Boston  took  place 
during  th^  session  of  the  General  Court ;  and  this,  of 
course,  necessitated  a  reception  by  that  body.  "  I 
have  been  informed  that  the  Legislature  intend  to 
receive  the  tribute  of  my  personal  respect,"  wrote 
Lafayette  to  my  father ;  thus  modestly  parrying  the 
compliment  that  was  tendered  him.  "  In  which  case 
it  will  seem  proper  for  me  to  be  arrived  two  days 
before  the  Bunker  Hill  ceremony.  As  to  what  I  am 
to  do,  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  refer  myself  to  your 
friendly  advice  ;  and  shall  hastily  offer  you  and  fam 
ily  my  most  affectionate,  grateful  respects."  And  so, 
according  to  his  programme,  the  General  arrived  in 
time  to  appear  at  the  State  House  on  the  16th, 


LAFAYETTE    ON    BUNKER   HILL.  129 

and  to  make  us  a  graceful  and  dignified  speech,  which 
his  pretty  French  accent  made  very  touching.  He 
told  us  that  Bunker  Hill  had  been  the  pole-star  upon 
which  his  eyes  had  been  fixed,  and  he  rejoiced  in  the 
prospect  of  assisting  at  "  the  grand  half-secular 
jubilee"  which  was- to  take  place  the  next  day.  I 
can  see  him  as  he  then  stood  before  us,  looking  all 
the  better  for  his  extended  travels.  A  fine,  portly 
figure,  nearly  six  feet  high,  wearing  lightly  the  three 
score  and  ten  years  he  had  nearly  completed,  showing 
no  infirmity  save  the  slight  lameness  incurred  in  our 
defence  at  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine,  —  such  was  the 
outward  person  of  the  General.  His  face,  on  nearer 
view,  showed  traces  of  the  sufferings  through  which 
he  had  passed ;  but  his  brown  wig,  which  set  low 
upon  his  forehead,  concealed  some  of  the  wrinkles 
which  time  writes  upon  the  brow,  and  made  it  diffi 
cult  to  realize  that  he  was  the  comrade  of  the  bald 
and  white-headed  veterans  who  came  to  greet  him. 
The  wig,  however,  did  him  yeoman's  service.  With 
out  it  he  could  never  have  ridden  with  his  hat  off 
through  the  continuous  receptions  and  triumphal  en 
tries  which  were  accorded  him. 

We  have  lately  had  a  surfeit  of  centennial  anni 
versaries;  we  have  come  to  take  them  indifferently 
and  as  a  matter  of  course.  They  seem  little  more 
than  conventional  compliments  to  a  past  with  which 
no  living  link  connects  us.  How  can  I  give  an  idea 
of  the  freshness  and  feeling  with  which  we  celebrated 
the  fiftieth  return  of  the  day  when  the  great  battle 
of  our  Eevolution  had  been  fought  ?  Every  circum- 

9 


130  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

stance  seemed  to  conspire  to  add  dignity  and  pathos 
to  the  occasion.      The  day  was  simply  perfect ;  as 
perfect  as  if  made  expressly  for  the  imposing  scenes 
it  was  to  witness.     Never  before  had  so  many  peo 
ple  been  packed  into  the  city.     "  Everything  that  has 
wheels  and  everything  which  has  legs,"  in  the  language 
of  a  stage-driver  of  the  period,  "  used  them  to  get  to 
Boston."     My  orders  were  to  be  at  the  Subscription 
House  at  nine  in  the  morning.     This  was  the  new 
name  for  the  mansion  at  the  head  of  Park  Street, 
which  had  recently  been  opened  as  a  club  house,  — 
the  first,  I  believe,  known   in  New  England.     The 
duty  assigned  me  was  to  meet  the  survivors  of  the 
Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  to  introduce  them  to  the 
General,  —  a  privilege   this  never   to   be   forgotten  ! 
I  passed  along  the  line  of  old  men,  taking  the  name 
of  each  of  them  from  his  lips,  and  repeating  it  to 
Lafayette.     He   immediately  pronounced   the   name 
after  me  in  tones  of  the  deepest  interest,  as  if  that  of 
a  dear  personal  friend,  and  then,  advancing,  grasped 
the   hand   of  each   veteran   with   tender   cordiality. 
There  was  no  crowd  of  idle  witnesses  to  gaze  upon 
the  scene.     I  stood  the  one  young  man  among  these 
honored  heroes.     If  there  were  dry  eyes  in  the  room, 
mine  were  not  among  them.     It  was  a  scene  for  an 
historical  picture,  by  an   artist  who  could   feel   its 
interest.     Thank   Heaven,  it   escaped   the  conscious 
posings  and  other  vulgarities  of  the  modern  photo 
graph0!   No  field  or  staff  officer  of  the  battle  survived; 
but  there  was  a  captain,  by  the  name  of  Clark,  bend 
ing  beneath  his  ninety-five  years,  who  brought  colo- 


LAFAYETTE   ON   BUNKER    HILL.  131 

nial  times  under  King  George  into  contact  with  the 
great  republic  which  had  succeeded  them.  It  was 
my  duty  to  attach  to  the  breast  of  each  of  these  sur 
vivors  a  badge  of  honor,  which  was  worn  during  the 
day. 

The  brilliant  civil  and  military  procession  which 
escorted  Lafayette  and  his  veterans  to  Bunker  Hill 
moved  through  crowds  of  spectators,  who  were  over 
flowing  with  enthusiasm.  It  seemed  as  if  no  spot 
where  a  human  foot  could  plant  itself  was  left  un 
occupied.  Even  the  churches  along  the  route  had 
been  opened,  and  their  windows  were  thronged  with 
ladies.  The  contrasted  feelings  with  which  Boston 
had  looked  toward  the  heights  of  Charlestown  fifty 
years  ago  was  the  theme  of  every  tongue.  Then,  as 
Byron  puts  it,  there  were  hurry  ings  to  and  fro,  and 
gathering  tears  and  tremblings  of  distress ;  now  there 
was  a  great  nation,  which  had  solved  the  problem  of 
self-government  and  commanded  the  respect  of  the 
world.  I  had  intended  to  give  the  scene  upon  Bun 
ker  Hill  from  my  own  notes  and  recollections ;  but  I 
find  in  the  journal  of  my  sister  so  excellent  a  record 
of  the  occasion  that  I  shall  presently  avail  myself  of 
her  kind  permission  to  copy  it  for  my  readers. 

After  laying  the  corner-stone,  Lafayette  positively 
refused  to  take  the  seat  which  had  been  prepared  for 
him  under  the  pavilion  devoted  to  official  personages 
and  distinguished  guests.  "  No,"  said  he;  "  I  belong 
there,  among  the  survivors  of  the  Eevolution,  and 
there  I  must  sit."  And  so  he  took  a  seat  among  the 
veterans,  with  no  shelter  from  the  rays  of  a  June  sun. 


132  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

I  have  already  implied  that  the  address  hy  Everett 
at  Cambridge  was  a  greater  display  of  oratory  than 
that  of  Webster  at  Bunker  Hill ;  but  above  the  power 
of  any  words  there  was  in  the  latter  case  the  mag 
nificent  presence  of  the  man.  As  America,  in  the 
patriotic  fervors  which  had  not  then  been  chastened, 
seemed  to  tower  superior  to  all  other  nations,  so  tow 
ered  Webster  above  all  other  men.  What  a  figure 
head  was  there  for  the  Ship  of  State !  No  man,  as 
Sydney  Smith  said,  could  be  so  great  as  this  man 
looked,  and  now  he  looked  his  very  greatest.  To  de 
scribe  him,  as  he  stood  before  us,  I  must  enlist  the 
poets  as  reporters :  "  The  front  of  Jove  himself ;  an 
eye  like  Mars,  to  threaten  and  command."  And 
below  these  there  were  the  "  Atlantean  shoulders,  fit 
to  bear  the  weight  of  mightiest  monarchies ;  "  and,  if 
so,  then  also  the  weight  of  that  mightiest  of  republics, 
which  was  to  throw  them  into  the  shade.  But  there 
was  one  present  who  awakened  a  higher  sentiment 
than  Daniel  Webster.  The  occasion  was  to  be  con 
secrated  by  prayer,  and  the  venerable  Joseph  Thaxter, 
the  chaplain  of  Prescott's  own  regiment,  rose  to  offi 
ciate.  Half  a  century  before,  this  man  had  stood 
upon  that  very  spot,  and  in  the  presence  of  brave 
men,  for  whom  that  morning  sun  was  to  know  no 
setting,  called  on  Him  who  can  save  by  many  or 
by  few  for  aid  in  the  approaching  struggle.  What 
thoughts  filled  the  minds  of  the  patriots  who  had  lis 
tened  to  Mr.  Thaxter's  prayer  in  this  place  !  What 
wonderful  changes  surrounded  their  descendants ! 
And  here  was  again  lifted  the  feeble  voice  of  the  old 


LAFAYETTE   ON   BUNKER   HILL.  133 

man  to  invoke  the  Unchangeable,  to  ask  the  blessing 
of  Him  who  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for 
ever.  I  note  this  prayer  as  on  the  whole  the  most 
impressive  circumstance  of  this  memorable  day,  and 
now  give  the  narrative  from  the  young  lady's  diary. 

"Friday,  June  17,  1825.  —  This  eventful  day  was 
welcomed  by  the  roaring  of  cannon,  which  woke  us 
at  early  dawn.  The  whole  city  was  soon  in  motion. 
Carriages  were  driving  at  a  tremendous  rate;  the 
troops  were  assembling  on  the  Common  ;  and  the 
streets  were  thronged  by  multitudes,  hurrying  to  and 
fro.  Great  apprehensions  were  yesterday  entertained 
with  regard  to  the  weather ;  but  every  one  said,  '  It 
must  be  a  fair  day  on  the  17th,'  and  I  heard  that 
an  old  man  in  Andover  exclaimed,  'The  Lord  will 
not  permit  it  to  rain  on  that  day.'  The  heavens 
were  never  more  propitious.  The  showers  of  yes 
terday  laid  the  dust  and  cooled  the  atmosphere,  and 
it  was  indeed  the  perfection  of  weather. 

"Before  going  to  Charlestown,  we  arranged  the 
house  for  the  reception  of  visitors.  The  head  of 
Hamilton  Place  was  one  of  the  best  places  in  the 
city  from  which  to  view  the  procession,  and  we  knew 
that  every  window  would  be  in  requisition.  Two  of 
my  sisters  remained  home  to  see  the  parade  and  re 
ceive  company,  and  some  of  our  acquaintances  arrived 
as  early  as  eight  o'clock.  At  half  past  eight  we  took 
our  departure,  escorted  by  my  father,  who  walked  be 
side  our  carriage  to  the  old  Hancock  House,  where  we 
were  to  call  for  Mrs.  Lincoln.  The  Governor's  car 
riage  was  in  waiting,  and,  while  my  father  went  up 


134  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

to  attend  Mrs.  Lincoln,  the  Governor  came  down  to 
the  carriage,  to  pay  his  respects  to  my  mother  and 
exchange  congratulations  on  the  beauty  of  the  day. 
Mrs.  Lincoln,  Miss  Putnam,  and  my  father  then  got 
into  the  Governor's  carriage  and  led  the  way  to 
Charlestown.  On  arriving  there,  we  drove  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Knowles  (one  of  the  marshals),  where 
it  had  been  arranged  that  the  ladies  should  assemble. 
All  the  rooms  of  the  house  were  crowded  with  com 
pany,  and  we  were  received  with  great  kindness  and 
civility  by  its  mistress.  The  ladies  vied  with  each 
other  in  the  elegance  of  their  dresses,  and  their  variety 
afforded  us  ample  entertainment  during  the  hour  we 
passed  there,  before  we  were  permitted  to  secure  our 
places  to  hear  the  oration.  We  found  foreigners  and 
strangers  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  ;  among  them, 
of  course,  many  of  our  acquaintances,  —  Mrs.  Web 
ster,  Miss  Sedgwick,  Mr.  Daniel  Wadsworth,  and 
others.  The  latter  is  a  gentleman  of  taste  and  culti 
vation.  He  spoke  with  great  enthusiasm  of  the  visit 
of  Lafayette  to  this  country.  '  I  was  in  the  carriage 
with  the  General,'  said  he, f  when  he  entered  Hartford. 
Lafayette  was  describing  to  me  the  sufferings  he  un 
derwent  at  Olmutz,  when  we  came  to  a  place  where 
the  crowd  had  collected  to  welcome  him.  His  de 
scription  was  rendered  inaudible  by  the  cheers  which 
rent  the  air.  Lafayette  bowed  to  the  people,  and 
then,  turning  to  me,  said,  with  emphasis,  "  These  are, 
indeed,  the  extremes  of  human  life  !  "  To  which  I 
replied,  "  Yes,  sir  ;  but  they  are  extremes  which  no  mor 
tal  but  you  has  been  permitted  to  behold."  ' 


LAFAYETTE   ON   BUNKER   HILL.  135 

"  We  remained  at  Mr.  Knowles's  until  near  eleven, 
and  then  walked  to  Bunker  Hill ;  my  father  escorting 
Mrs.  Lincoln  and  my  mother,  and  Professor  Silliman 
Miss  Putnam  and  myself.  The  stage  for  the  orator 
was  erected  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and  seats  for  the 
ladies  extended  in  a  semicircle  on  each  side,  forming 
a  kind  of  amphitheatre.  Above  us,  on  the  side  of 
the  hill,  were  seats  for  the  soldiers  of  the  Kevolution 
and  the  multitudes  who  were  to  come  in  the  proces 
sion.  We  found  ourselves  surrounded  by  an  immense 
number  of  women,  fashionable  and  unfashionable, 
high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  all  animated  by  one  in 
terest.  The  breezes  came  over  the  hill  perfumed  by 
the  new-mown  hay,  —  such  as  was  used  to  form  in 
trench  ments  on  the  day  of  the  battle.  At  length  the 
report  of  the  cannon  announced  the  approach  of  the 
procession,  and  soon  the  infantry  appeared  on  the  brow 
of  the  hill.  The  ceremony  of  laying  the  corner 
stone  we  could  not  see,  as  it  took  place  on  the  other 
side  of  the  hill ;  but  the.  dirge  to  the  memory  of  the 
dead,  borne  by  the  wind  in  our  direction,  was  very 
touching.  After  an  hour  had  passed,  those  in  the 
procession  came  forward  and  took  their  appointed 
seats.  Just  beside  us  were  the  survivors  of  the  bat 
tle,  —  a  company  of  venerable  old  men,  covered  with 
badges  and  attended  with  the  greatest  respect  by  the 
young  soldiers  of  the  present  day,  whose  brilliant  uni 
forms  and  youthful  appearance  formed  a  most  strik 
ing  contrast  with  the  veterans  they  were  supporting. 
Opposite  were  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution,  with 
Lafayette  in  the  midst  of  them.  The  orator  of  the 


136  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

day  ascended  the  stage,  accompanied  by  the  Governor 
and  his  suite  and  many  strangers  of  distinction.  The 
Masons,  with  their  white  aprons  and  blue  scarfs  and 
banners  glancing  in  the  sun,  were  upon  the  side  of 
the  hill,  behind  the  soldiers  of  the  Ee volution.  Next 
to  them  came  the  military  escort  and  then  the  count 
less  multitude.  Perfect  silence  pervaded  this  vast 
assembly  when  Mr.  Thaxter,  the  chaplain  of  Prescott's 
regiment,  rose  to  offer  prayer.  His  voice  was  tremu 
lous  with  age,  as  he  raised  it  here  again  to  offer  the 
thanksgivings  of  another  generation.  The  effect  of 
Mr.  Pierpont's  beautiful  hymn,  sung  by  this  vast  as 
sembly,  to  the  tune  of  'Old  Hundred,'  and  accompa 
nied  by  a  full  band,  is  beyond  rny  power  of  descrip 
tion.  In  the  fourth  verse  the  music  died  away  to 
the  softest  strains,  and  toward  the  conclusion  swelled 
again  to  notes  of  solemn  grandeur. 

"  Mr.  Webster  then  came  forward,  looking  like  one 
worthy  to  be  the  orator  of  such  an  occasion.  Scarcely 
had  he  pronounced  a  few  sentences,  when  he  was 
interrupted  by  the  shouts  of  the  throng  beyond  the 
barriers.  Their  cries  sounded  wildly  in  the  distance, 
and  for  some  moments  great  apprehensions  were  felt 
that  their  anxiety  to  hear  Mr.  Webster  would  induce 
them  to  break  through  all  restraint  and  rush  forward 
upon  the  place  where  the  ladies  were  seated.  The 
countenances  of  the  gentlemen  upon  the  stage  ex 
pressed  deep  anxiety,  and  some  of  the  ladies  almost 
fainted  from  alarm.  Wre  exerted  all  our  influence  to 
induce  those  about  us  to  remain  quiet.  It  was  an 
appalling  moment.  Some  of  the  crowd  had  begun  to 


LAFAYETTE   ON   BUNKER   HILL.  137 

climb  upon  our  seats  and  pull  away  the  awning  that 
protected  us.  If  the  multitude  beyond  had  followed 
them,  it  would  have  produced  a  conflict  with  the 
military  and  a  painful  scene.  The  guards,  consta 
bles,  and  marshals  in  vain  endeavored  to  keep  order. 
Mr.  Webster  seemed  much  agitated,  and  said,  with 
an  air  of  deep  regret,  '  We  frustrate  our  own  work.' 
Then,  by  a  sudden  impulse,  he  came  forward,  and  with 
one  of  his  commanding  looks  called  to  the  marshals 
in  a  voice  of  thunder,  'Be  silent  yourselves,  and  the 
people  WILL  obey!1  The  commotion  ceased  almost 
instantly,  and  Mr.  Webster  again  commenced  his 
oration." 

There  is  no  need  to  speak  of  a  performance  which  is 
conspicuous  among  the  published  works  of  the  orator. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  exercises  we  repaired  to  a 
pavilion  on  the  summit  of  the  hill,  where  more  than 
four  thousand  guests  sat  down  to  dinner.  The  feed 
ing  of  this  army  was  as  successful  as  such  attempts 
usually  are.  The  official  personages,  among  whom  I 
was  placed,  were  well  looked  after,  and  it  would  be 
most  ungenerous  to  cast  any  reflections  upon  the  con 
tractor,  particularly  now  when  no  good  can  come  of 
them.  Patriotic  toasts  abounded.  The  sentiment 
given  by  Lafayette  is  interesting,  as  embodying  the 
general  confidence  of  the  time,  and  its  lack  of  appre 
ciation  of  the  slow  movements  of  history  :  — 

"  Bunker  Hill,  and  the  holy  resistance  to  oppression 
which  has  already  enfranchised  the  American  hemi 
sphere.  The  next  half-century  jubilee's  toast  shall 
be  :  To  Enfranchised  Europe  !  " 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  AT   HOME. 


'""P'HEBE  was  never  a  more  brilliant  and  interesting 
•*•  private  party  given  in  Boston  than  the  recep 
tion  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daniel  Webster,  on  the  evening 
of  the  memorable  17th  of  June,  1825.  Colonel  Israel 
Thorndike,  the  neighbor  of  Mr.  Webster,  had  caused 
a  passage  to  be  cut  through  the  brick  walls  which 
separated  their  houses.  This  doubled  the  accommo 
dation  for  guests,  by  connecting  another  handsome 
establishment  with  that  of  the  host  of  the  evening. 
Summer  Street  was  as  light  as  day,  the  houses  were 
brilliantly  illuminated,  and  a  fine  band  was  stationed 
a  few  yards  from  Mr.  Webster's  door.  The  rooms 
were  filled  with  strangers  from  all  parts  of  the  coun 
try.  I  can  notice  only  those  few  persons  with  whom 
I  happened  to  converse  or  had  special  reason  to 
mark. 

First,  there  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webster,  who  re 
ceived  the  compliments  of  the  hour  with  great  dig 
nity  and  simplicity.  Of  the  lady,  the  journal  before 
me  declares  that  "  she  seemed  highly  to  enjoy  the 
success  and  distinction  of  her  husband,  but  showed 
not  the  slightest  symptom  of  vanity  or  elation."  In 
deed,  among  the  most  interesting  spectacles  of  the 


DANIEL   WEBSTER   AT   HOME.  139 

evening  was  the  unassuming  serenity  of  the  hosts  in 
the  midst  of  all  the  honor  and  congratulations  which 
surrounded  them.  In  alluding  to  the  scene  of  the 
morning,  Mr.  Webster  said  :  "  I  never  desire  to  behold 
again  the  awful  spectacle  of  so  many  human  faces  all 
turned  toward  me.  As  I  looked  at  them,  a  strange 
idea  came  into  my  mind.  I  thought  of  what  Effie 
Deans  said,  in  contemplating  her  execution,  that 
there  would  be  '  seas  of  faces '  looking  up  at  her. 
There  was,  indeed,  a  sea  of  faces  before  me  at  that 
moment." 

Colonel  Thorndike  occupied  the  somewhat  peculiar 
position  of  guest  in  his  own  house.  He  was  a  fine- 
looking  person,  reputed  to  be  the  richest  man  in  New 
England,  and  in  this  capacity  was  the  object  of  much 
interest  and  attention.  He  was  a  great  ship-owner, 
and  everything  he  touched  seemed  to  succeed.  In 
Beverly,  his  native  town,  there  had  grown  up  a  sort 
of  proverb  about  him,  to  the  effect  that  if  Thorndike 
were  to  send  out  a  pebble  on  a  shingle  it  would  come 
back  a  dollar.  Yet,  like  all  successful  men,  he  had 
met  reverses ;  and  I  remember  once  heaving  him  ex 
claim,  with  some  bitterness,  "If  I  had  taken  every 
ship  I  owned,  brought  them  into  Boston  harbor,  and 
burued  them  without  insurance,  I  should  be  worth 
$100,000  more  than  I  am  now."  This  gentleman 
had  married  Miss  Dana,  of  Marblehead,  —  a  lady 
whom  my  father  considered  one  of  the  finest  women 
he  had  ever  met.  I  well  remember  the  words  in 
which  he  congratulated  Colonel  Thorndike  upon  his 
engagement :  "  Let  me  tell  you,  sir,  that  you  have 


140  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

made  the  very  best  bargain  you  have  touched  yet ! " 
Wealth  was  quite  as  attractive  in  those  days  as  it  is 
at  present,  and  it  was  deemed  a  happy  circumstance 
that"  the  intellect  of  the  community  in  one  of  these 
adjoining  houses  should  be  backed  by  its  purse  in 
the  other. 

Among  the  interesting  strangers  with  whom  I  con 
versed  at  Mr.  Webster's  party  was  Dr.  S.  L.  Mitchell, 
of  New  York.  He  was  a  man  of  great  learning, 
though  of  some  eccentricity,  and  deserves  the  column 
of  the  "  American  Cyclopaedia  "  which  is  devoted  to 
his  commemoration.  He  was  then  prominently  be 
fore  the  public  on  account  of  an  appeal  which  had 
been  made  to  him  to  decide  whether  a  whale  was  a 
fish.  So  far  as  I  remember  the  case,  some  one  had 
contracted  to  deliver  a  large  amount  of  fish  oil,  and 
had  offered  whale  oil  in  fulfilment  of  his  contract. 
This  the  other  parties  to  the  bargain  refused  to  ac 
cept,  on  the  ground  that  the  whale  was  no  fish,  but 
an  animal.  How  the  matter  was  decided,  I  have  no 
recollection  ;  but  Dr.  Mitchell  had  been  appealed 
to  as  the  best  expert  to  be  found.  The  Doctor  ex 
pressed  his  delight  with  Boston  in  no  measured 
terms.  Indeed,  he  rolled  off  a  quotation  from  Pope's 
"  Homer  "  in  praise  of  the  city,  which  was  so  very 
flattering  that  I  shall  not  set  it  down.  It  did  well 
enough  to  introduce  a  conversation  which  he  made 
very  agreeable. 

Literary  celebrity  was  purchased  in  those  Arcadian 
days  at  a  much  lower  price  than  is  at  present  set 
upon  the  article.  I  do  not  remember  much  about 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  AT  HOME.  141 

Mr.  Hillhouse's  poem,  called  "  Hadad,"  yet  I  shall 
venture  to  doubt  whether  it  would  make  an  author 
conspicuous  if  published  to-day.  Nevertheless,  Mr. 
Hillhouse,  the  distinguished  American  poet,  was 
pointed  out  as  among  the  largest  lions  of  the  even 
ing.  I  read  very  good  verses  every  evening,  in  the 
Boston  "  Transcript,"  which  would  have  crowned  their 
authors  with  unfading  laurels  if  they  had  only  brought 
them  to  market  fifty  years  earlier.  Mr.  Hillhouse 
was  a  man  of  great  gentleness  and  refinement,  and 
I  afterward  enjoyed  his  society  as  a  visitor  in  our 
family  circle.  On  the  present  occasion,  however,  I 
found  more  attraction  in  the  person  of  a  lady  of  his 
party.  This  was  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Hillhouse  (Miss 
Lawrence),  a  reigning  belle  of  New  York.  With 
this  lady  I  had  a  pleasant  chat,  and,  as  a  social 
philosopher  of  three-and-twenty,  was  interested  in 
comparing  the  taste  of  the  two  cities  in  the  matter 
of  feminine  fascinations.  There  was  another  lady 
to  whom  I  was  presented,  —  a  tall  young  person,  of 
about  thirty,  of  pleasing  countenance,  and  wearing 
her  hair  cut  short  to  the  head.  This  was  famous 
Fanny  Wright,  who  had  just  returned  to  America, 
with  all  the  glory  of  having  written  a  book  about  us. 
She  was  destined  to  be  still  better  known,  at  a  later 
date,  as  the  promulgator  of  unpopular  theories  and 
as  the  first  of  practical  Abolitionists.  The  colony  of 
emancipated  slaves  which  she  established  on  lands 
purchased  in  Tennessee  was  one  of  those  failures 
which  are  better  than  many  things  which  the  world 
calls  successful. 


142  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

I  do  not  speak  of  Lafayette  and  the  survivors  of 
the  Eevolution,  who  were,  of  course,  at  Mr.  Webster's 
party  and  were  prominent  as  the  real  heroes  of  the 
day.  Among  these  survivors  was  Colonel  Putnam, 
the  son  of  General  Putnam,  who  was  conspicuous  at 
Bunker  Hill.  "  I  was  in  the  American  army  at  the 
time  of  the  famous  battle,"  said  this  gentleman ; 
"  but  my  father  would  not  allow  me  to  accompany 
him  to  Charlestown.  He  chose  to  leave  me  at  Cain- 
bridge  to  guard  a  Mrs.  Inman,  a  Tory  lady,  who  had 
placed  herself  under  his  protection."  The  evening 
at  Mr.  Webster's  was  a  fitting  climax  to  the  exciting 
festival,  and  those  who  had  taken  part  in  its  cere 
monials  had  good  reason  to  sleep  soundly. 

The  last  evening  reception  given  to  Lafayette  in 
Boston  took  place  on  Sunday,  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
R  C.  Derby.  I  have  noted  that  on  this  occasion 
the  General  was  reintroduced  to  a  lady  with  whom 
he  had  danced  a  minuet  forty-seven  years  before. 
Strange  to  say,  I  failed  to  set  down  the  lady's  name, 
and  I  now  find  it  to  be  gone  past  recovery.  Mr. 
Derby's  establishment  was  very  stylish  and  fashion 
able  ;  and  the  names  of  the  guests,  with  sucli  titles 
as  we  were  so  happy  as  to  possess,  were  loudly  pro 
claimed  by  a  servant  as  we  ascended  the  stairs.  My 
sister's  journal,  which  I  have  found  so  useful,  mentions 
that  the  arrangement  of  the  rooms  was  different  from 
any  she  had  seen  before.  "The  principal  drawing- 
room  was  large  and  brilliantly  lighted,  and  opening 
from  it  was  a  suite  of  smaller  apartments,  some  lined 
with  paintings,  others  hung  with  silk,  and  illuminated 


DANIEL  WEBSTER   AT   HOME.  143 

by  shade-lamps  and  lights  in  alabaster  vases,  to  pro 
duce  the  effect  of  moonlight.  These  apartments  ter 
minated  in  a  boudoir  only  large  enough  to  hold  two 
or  three  people.  It  was  hung  with  light  blue  silk 
and  furnished  with  sofas  and  curtains  of  the  same 
hue.  It  also  contained  an  immense  mirror,  placed 
so  as  to  reflect  the  rest  of  the  rooms."  This,  then, 
was  the  Boston  elegance  of  1825.  Whether  such 
arrangements  would  be  considered  effective  at  the 
present  day  I  am  not  qualified  to  say. 

Boston's  farewell  to  Lafayette  took  place  at  the 
theatre;  and  here  again  I  will  be  so  considerate 'as 
to  throw  aside  my  own  journal,  and  open  that  of 
another  sister,  not  out  of  her  teens,  to  the  accuracy 
of  whose  report  I  can  bear  witness.  If  one  cannot 
go  to  the  theatre  one's  self,  the  next  best  thing  is  to 
hear  the  account  that  a  fresh  young  person  will  give 
of  a  rarely  permitted  indulgence  of  this  nature.  And 
in  this  way  I  shall  invite  my  readers  to  assist  at 
Boston's  final  ovation  to  the  nation's  guest. 

"We  all  went  to  the  theatre  early;  but  as  soon 
as  we  reached  our  box  my  brother  left  us  under  the 
care  of  the  other  gentlemen  of  our  party,  —  as,  being 
aid  to  the  Governor,  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  the 
Maryborough  Hotel  to  join  his  suite.  We  ladies 
seated  ourselves  in  the  front  of  the  box,  and  began 
to  look  around  at  the  decorations  of  the  house.  The 
pit  and  lower  rows  of  boxes  were  already  quite  full, 
and  the  remaining  space  was  filling  up  very  fast. 
From  the  middle  of  the  ceiling  over  the  pit  was  sus 
pended  an  immense  gilt  eagle,  with  its  wings  spread, 


144  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

and  from  this  emblem  diverged  flags  and  streamers 
to  all  parts  of  the  house.  Bound  the  gillery,  in  illu 
minated  letters,  were  the  names  of  all  the  States,  and 
beneath  the  boxes  those  of  all  the  governors.  Over 
the  General's  box  were  the  letters  G.  L.  F.,  of  immense 
size  and  appropriately  decorated.  Two  boxes  had 
been  thrown  into  one  for  the  reception  of  Lafayette 
and  his  suite.  They  were  lined  with  green  baize  and 
decorated  with  flags,  evergreens,  and  artificial  flowers. 
The  play-bills  were  printed  on  white  satin.  Our 
box  was  No.  3,  next  to  the  General's,  and  was  also 
lined  with  green  baize,  out  of  compliment  to  the 
Mayor.  Lafayette  being  at  a  public  dinner,  the  play 
('  Charles  the  Second ')  began  before  his  arrival.  In 
the  midst  of  the  second  scene  the  Governor  and  his 
aids  entered  the  General's  box.  Out  of  compliment 
to  the  Governor,  the  audience  arose  and  clapped  long 
and  loud.  Soon  after  they  had  resumed  their  seats 
a  loud  shout  from  the  crowd  outside  announced  that 
General  Lafayette  was  at  the  door.  Presently  the 
managers  (who  had  received  Lafayette  at  the  entrance 
of  the  theatre),  preceded  by  men  in  costume,  bearing 
lighted  tapers  in  their  hands,  came  through  the  lobby, 
ushering  in  their  guest.  He  was  followed  by  the 
Mayor,  Mr.  Lloyd,  and  several  other  gentlemen ;  but 
George  Washington  Lafayette  and  M.  Levasseur  did 
not  appear,  as  they  were  preparing  for  their  depart 
ure.  As  soon  as  Lafayette  entered  the  box,  every 
one  rose,  and  three  cheers  were  given,  which  were 
absolutely  deafening.  They  were  accompanied  by 
clapping  of  hands,  stamping  of  feet,  and  beating  of 


DANIEL   WEBSTER    AT   HOME.  145 

canes,   while   the    orchestra   burst   into    'Lafayette's 
March.'     The  General  reached  the  front  of  the  box, 
bowed,  laid   his    hand   on    his   heart,   and   repeated 
several  times,  '  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you,  gen 
tlemen/  and  this 'caused  renewed  clapping  and  vocif 
eration.     At  last  the  cry  '  Down !  down  ! '  re-echoed 
through  the  house ;  and  when  all  were  reseated  the 
play  went  on.     Mrs.  Henry,  who  was  more  beautiful 
than  ever,  was  upon  the  stage  when  the  Genera]  en 
tered.     The  first  play  was  admirably  acted.     When 
it  was  over,  all  stood  up,  as  usual,  to  refresh.     La 
fayette  shook  hands  with  my  mother,  and  expressed 
his  pleasure  in  seeing  her  so  near  him.     When  the 
curtain  rose  again,  a  new  drop-scene  appeared.     It 
represented   the   tomb    of  Washington,   with  divers 
emblematical   trophies.      The   effect   was    very   fine. 
Mrs.  Powell  then  appeared,  attired  as  the  Goddess 
of  Liberty,  and  recited  a  piece  of  poetry,  winding  up 
with  a  compliment  to  Lafayette.     She  appeared  very 
well  indeed,  and  was  received  with  thunders  of  ap 
plause.     Then  that  scene  was  withdrawn,  and  a  view 
of  La  Grange  was  shown.     This  was  a  great  surprise, 
and  was  received  with  repeated  clapping.     Lafayette 
seemed  much  pleased,  and  said  it  was  a  good  like 
ness  of  his  place.     Then  Mrs.  Williamson,  elegantly 
dressed,  came  forward  and  sang  very  well  a  song  in 
honor   of   Lafayette.     Of   course,  this  was   received 
with  more  applause,  and  the  lady  retired  amid  shouts 
of  satisfaction.     The    after-piece,    '  Simpson    &   Co.,' 
now  began.     Finn  and  Mrs.  Henry  again  acted  ad 
mirably.      I   never   thought   of   Finn,   but   only    of 
10 


146  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

Bromley;  and  Mrs.  Henry  looked  more  bewitching 
than  I  ever  saw  her.  All  the  actors  had  new  dresses 
for  the  occasion,  and  everything  went  off  as  well  as 
possible.  When  the  curtain  dropped,  Lafayette  rose ; 
and  verily  I  thought  the  walls  would  have  fallen, 
from  the  noise  that  ensued.  As  it  was  Lafayette's 
last  appearance  in  Boston,  every  bow  from  him  was 
received  with  fresh  cheering.  At  length  he  turned 
from  the  audience,  shook  hands  for  the  last  time 
with  the  ladies  of  our  party,  and  declared  that  he 
should  expect  to  see  us  all  in  France.  Then  he  left 
the  box,  followed  by  the  whole  house ;  who,  meeting 
him  at  the  door,  gave  him  loud  cheers  as  he  drove 
off.  We  waited  some  time  for  the  crowd  to  disperse, 
and  then  walked  home.  This  evening,  I  think,  must 
bear  the  palm,  from  the  novelty  and  excitement  of 
the  scene." 

I  cannot  suppose  that  the  words  I  have  quoted 
will  give  this  scene  to  the  reader  as  vividly  as  they 
reproduce  it  to  me.  The  dead  and  forgotten  worthies 
of  old  Boston,  full  of  life  and  enthusiasm,  are  again 
crowding  the  theatre.  Those  who  claim  to  have 
taken  their  places  are  to  me  the  phantoms. 


LAFAYETTE   LEAVES   MASSACHUSETTS. 


A  BOUT  the  year  1845,  in  going  from  Boston  to 
*~\-  New  York,  I  fell  in  with  a  bridal  party.  The 
gentleman  introduced  himself,  and  then  presented  me 
to  his  wife,  and  to  her  very  pretty  sister,  who  was 
travelling  in  their  company.  After  some  chat  upon 
indifferent  subjects,  the  bride  turned  to  me,  with  an 
air  of  well-assumed  seriousness,  and  said :  "  I  may  as 
well  tell  you,  Mr.  Quincy,  that  I  have  long  desired  to 
make  your  acquaintance,  and  determined  to  do  so 
when  I  found  you  were  upon  this  boat.  There  is 
an  event  with  which  you  were  connected  which  has 
caused  much  unhappiness  in  our  family.  It  is  in 
your  power  to  remove  this  unhappiness  by  answer 
ing  a  single  question,  '  Did  you  ever  kiss  my  sister  ? ' ' 
Amazed  at  this  singular  inquiry,  I  could  only  say 
that,  without  betraying  the  past,  I  should  be  glad, 
with  the  young  lady's  permission,  to  qualify  myself 
to  answer  the  question  in  the  affirmative  from  that 
time  forward.  "That  would  not  improve  things,'* 
said  the  bride,  roguishly  ;  "  for  the  fact  is  that  this 
pert  young  thing  has  always  given  herself  airs  be 
cause,  when  she  was  four  months  old,  and  you  were 
driving  through  our  town  with  Lafayette,  she. was 


148  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST, 

lifted  up  into  the  carriage  and,  as  she  says,  kissed  by 
the  General.  Now,  the  old  people  who  remember 
the  time  tell  us  that  this  notion  of  hers  is  a  great 
mistake ;  for  they  are  certain  that  while  Lafayette 
was  shaking  hands  with  the  men  on  one  side  of  the 
barouche,  he  detailed  you  to  kiss  the  babies  on  the 
other."  I  mention  this  incident  as  one  of  those  allu 
sions  to  the  visit  of  Lafayette  which,  for  thirty  years 
afterward,  were  testifying  to  the  deep  impression  it 
had  made  upon  our  people.  In  this  special  case  I 
did  all  that  I  could  for  the  young  lady,  by  declaring 
that,  while  candor  compelled  me  to  admit  that  I  had 
kissed  a  goodly  number  of  babies  on  the  21st  of  June, 
1825,  I  had  not  the  slightest  recollection  of  her  as 
being  among  their  number. 

On  the  morning  of  Lafayette's  final  departure  from 
Boston,  I  was  ordered  to  report  myself  at  Mr.  Lloyd's 
house,  in  Somerset  Street,  at  seven  o'clock.  In  com 
pany  with  my  fellow  aid,  John  Brazer  Davis,  I  here 
passed  a  pleasant  hour  in  breakfasting  with  the  Gen 
eral,  who  was  full  of  conversation.  My  journal  re 
cords  that  he  gave  us  highly  interesting  sketches  of 
his  journey  through  the  States,  and  spoke  with  great 
gratification  of  his  reception  by  Congress,  and  of  its 
generous  gift  as  a  recognition  of  his  services  in  the 
Revolution.  "  I  have  but  one  thing  to  regret  in  all 
my  travels,"  he  said,  "  and  that  is  the  loss  of  my  little 
dog,  who  loved  me  so  much ; "  and  he  gave  us  a  pa 
thetic  account  of  his  feelings  when  the  animal  was 
stolen  during  the  passage  up  the  Ohio.  The  conver 
sation  turned  upon  Napoleon,  and  it  was  evident 


LAFAYETTE   LEAVES   MASSACHUSETTS.  149 

that,  notwithstanding  the  good  reasons  to  detest  the 
man  which  Lafayette  had,  he  was  enough  of  a  French 
man  and  a  soldier  to  take  pride  in  the  military  genius 
which  had  led  his  countrymen  to  such  brilliant  victo 
ries.  "But  the  fact  is,"  continued  the  General,  "history 
will  find  it  very  difficult  to  get  at  the  real  Napoleon ; 
for  the  man  deported  himself  with  great  care  when  in 
the  presence  of  those  whom  he  had  reason  to  suspect 
were  writing  diaries  or  memoirs.  Posterity  will  know 
what  poses  he  deemed  becoming  in  a  figure  of  his 
importance,  and  but  little  more."  The  remark  was  a 
shrewd  one,  and  for  fifty  years  after  it  was  made  at 
Mr.  Lloyd's  breakfast-table  I  was  disposed  to  accept 
it  as  true.  We  have  only  just  learned  that  all  the 
sagacity  of  the  Emperor  could  not  tell  him  who  the 
memoir  writers  were  to  be.  There  was  a  modest  little 
woman,  who  waited  upon  his  wife,  before  whom  the 
great  man  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  keep  up  his 
posturing ;  and  the  revelations  of  Madame  de  Eemu- 
sat  have  amply  avenged  any  deceptions  he  may  have 
fastened  upon  others. 

A  little  after  nine  it  was  announced  that  the  car 
riages  were  at  the  door  and  that  the  last  farewells 
must  be  spoken.  "Sir,  you  have  made  us  love  you 
too  much,"  said  my  father,  who  had  come  to  witness 
the  departure.  "  Ah !  but  I  cannot  love  you  too 
much,"  replied  Lafayette,  throwing  his  arms  about 
him  and,  after  the  French  custom,  saluting  him  upon 
both  cheeks.  There  were  three  open  barouches,  each 
drawn  by  four  horses,  those  attached  to  the  General's 
carriage  being  perfectly  white  animals  of  noble  ap- 


150  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

pearance.  I  rode  at  the  left  of  Lafayette,  and  Colonel 
Davis  had  the  front  seat  to  himself.  The  carriages 
following  us  contained  George  Washington  Lafayette 
and  others  of  the  suite.  We  were  accompanied  by 
outriders,  and  for  a  part  of  the  way,  at  least,  by  a  de 
tachment  of  cavalry. 

We  left  the  city  through  throngs  of  people,  which 
almost  stopped  the  streets ;  and  at  every  town  and 
every  cross-road  we  were  received  by  new  throngs 
pressing  upon  us  to  salute  the  guest  of  the  nation. 
We  made  short  stops  for  the  babies  to  be  kissed 
(by  proxy  or  otherwise),  and  for  the  men  (those 
who  could  get  near  the  barouche)  to  take  the  Gen 
eral  by  the  hand.  Our  carriage  was  soon  filled 
with  the  flowers  that  were  thrown  into  it,  and  there 
remained  no  space  available  for  an  additional  rose 
bud. 

Exciting  as  all  this  was,  I  longed  for  the  vacant 
spaces  upon  our  road,  for  there  Lafayette  would  kindly 
answer  the  inquiries  of  his  young  companions  and 
tell  them  of  the  scenes  through  which  he  had  passed. 
He  gave  us  a  thrilling  account  of  the  mob  at  Ver 
sailles,  on  the  memorable  occasion  when,  appearing 
on  the  balcony  with  the  Queen,  he  could  only  address 
them  in  dumb  show,  by  kneeling  and  kissing  the 
royal  hand.  He  spoke  with  fervor  of  the  beauty  of 
Marie  Antoinette,  and  seemed  to  think  that  this 
was  no  unimportant  factor  in  giving  events  the  turn 
they  had  taken.  Speaking  of  his  visit  to  America, 
he  declared  that  nothing  struck  him  more  than  the 
simplicity  of  life  and  the  absence  of  accumulated 


LAFAYETTE  LEAVES  MASSACHUSETTS.      151 

capital.  "What  do  you  think,"  said  he,  "is  the 
question  which  these  Kevolutionary  soldiers,  to  whom 
I  am  introduced,  almost  invariably  ask  me?  It  is 
this  :  '  What  do.  you  do  for  a  living  ? '  And  some 
times  the  inquiry  comes :  '  What  was  your  father's 
business  ? '  Now,  everybody  is  working  for  a  living 
in  America,  —  that  is,  pursuing  some  money-getting 
trade  or  profession,  —  and  the  people  do  not  under 
stand  how  it  can  be  otherwise  in  the  older  coun 
tries." 

Lafayette  showed  great  tact  in  the  little  speeches 
he  was  everywhere  compelled  to  make,  and  often 
caused  astonishment  by  the  local  information  that 
was  interwoven  with  his  remarks.  His  memory  was 
wonderfully  clear  in  regard  to  the  incidents  of  his 
own  career ;  but  his  knowledge  of  the  position  of 
affairs  in  the  villages  of  Massachusetts  was  not  mar- 
'vellous  to  those  who  travelled  in  his  company.  As  we 
were  approaching  Andover,  he  said,  "  Now  tell  me 
all  about  this  place  and  for  what  it  is  remarkable." 
As  my  boyhood  had  been  passed  in  the  town,  as  a 
pupil  of  the  academy,  the  subject  was  one  upon 
which  I  was  thoroughly  posted.  I  gave  him  several 
local  incidents,  describing  especially  the  Theological 
Seminary,  where  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints  was  held  in  its  original  purity  and  from  whose 
walls  many 'missionaries  had  gone  forth.  The  Gen 
eral  treasured  the  hints,  and  in  his  speech  made  the 
happiest  allusion  to  that  sacred  hill  from  which  hope 
had  gone  forth  to  the  heathen  and  light  to  the  utter 
most  parts  of  the  earth.  On  my  return  through  the 


152  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

town,  I  met  an  old  gentleman  who,  though  not  con 
nected  with  the  institution,  was  deeply  interested  in 
its  honor  and  success.  "  I  was  really  surprised,"  he 
said  to  me,  "  at  the  particular  and  accurate  knowledge 
that  General  Lafayette  possessed  in  regard  to  our 
Theological  Seminary.  I  always  knew  that  in  the 
religious  world  it  was  an  object  of  great  concern ;  but 
I  never  supposed  that  in  the  courts  and  camps  of 
Europe  so  much  interest  Avas  taken  in  the  condition 
and  prospects  of  this  institution."  I  could  not  find 
it  in  my  heart  to  dispel  a  delusion  which  gave  so 
much  innocent  pleasure,  and  so  went  my  way  with 
the  remark  that,  after  the  talk  I  had  had  with  the 
General,  I  was  not  surprised  at  the  excellence  of  his 
information  concerning  all  that  was  going  forward  in 
Andover. 

There  was  a  story  told  about  Lafayette,  during  his 
visit  to  Boston,  which  I  am  tempted  to  repeat,  though 
I  do  not  believe  it  was  true.  It  was  probably  one  of 
those  apocryphal  anecdotes  which  give  the  popular 
impressions  about  public  characters  in  a  pointed  way. 
On  being  presented  to  some  old  soldiers,  the  General 
was  heard  to  ask  the  leader  of  the  group  if  he  were 
married.  Upon  receiving  an  answer  in  the  affirma 
tive,  Lafayette  responded,  with  most  tender  empha 
sis,  "  Ah  !  happy  man  !  "  To  the  person  who  was 
next  presented  the  same  question  was  put ;  but  here 
the  reply  was,  "  No,  sir  ;  I  am  a  bachelor."  "  Oh  ! 
you  lucky  dog  ! "  whispered  the  questioner,  with  a 
roguish  twinkle  in  his  eye.  These  remarks  were 
overheard  by  a  bystander,  who  taxed  Lafayette  with 


LAFAYETTE  LEAVES  MASSACHUSETTS.     153 

insincerity  in  bestowing  similar  congratulations  under 
such  widely  different  circumstances.  "  Is  it  possible," 
said  the  General,  turning  promptly  upon  his  critic, 
"  that  you  value  the  prerogative  of  humanity  so  little 
as  not  to  know  that  the  felicity  of  a  happy  man  is  a 
thousand  times  better  than  that  of  a  lucky  dog  ! " 
Certain  traits  of  Lafayette  —  his  way  of  saying  pleas 
ant  things  to  those  he  met,  and  his  graceful  readiness 

•  O  o 

of  reply  —  are  so  happily  combined  in  the  story  that 
it  deserves  to  be  true,  and  it  may  have  had  some 
foundation  in  fact. 

Methuen  was  the  last  town  in  Massachusetts  where 
we  stopped  to  receive  the  homage  of  the  people  ;  and 
soon  after  we  reached  the  State  line,  where  we  gave 
up  our  guest  to  the  authorities  of  New  Hampshire. 
Lafayette  embraced  his  two  companions  at  parting, 
and  thanked  us  over  and  over  again  for  the  attention 
which  had  been  shown  him.  To  me  his  last  words 
were  :  "  Remember,  we  must  meet  again  in  France  ! " 
and,  so  saying,  he  kissed  me  upon  both  cheeks.  "  If 
Lafayette  had  kissed  me,"  said  an  enthusiastic  lady 
of  my  acquaintance,  "  depend  upon  it,  I  would  never 
have  washed  my  face  again  as  long  as  I  lived  ! "  The 
remark  may  be  taken  as  fairly  marking  the  point 
which  the  flood-tide  of  affectionate  admiration  reached 
in  those  days. 

I  cannot  hope  to  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
extraordinary  spectacles  represented  during  the  visit 
of  our  nation's  guest.  Before  us  stood  the  very  man 
who  had  crossed  the  ocean  to  a  land  of  strangers  — 
aliens  in  blood  and  in  language  —  to  share  our  des- 


154  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

perate  struggle  when  we  were  poor  and  weak  and 
oppressed.  It  was  a  striking  and  magnificent  event, 
one  not  to  be  repeated  in  the  world's  history.  The 
shrewd  and  inexpressive  New  Englanders  were  filled 
with  the  exuberant  enthusiasm  of  the  Southern  races. 
They  rushed  with  the  wild  ardor  of  children  to  em 
brace  a  beloved  parent. 

Just  thirty  years  after  taking  leave  of  Lafayette,  I 
visited  the  city  of  Paris  and  stood  beside  his  tomb. 
He  lies  by  the  side  of  his  dearly  beloved  wife,  in  the 
little  cemetery  of  Picpus.  The  entrance  is  through  a 
chapel  of  the  Nuns  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  where  two 
of  the  sisters  are  always  prostrate  in  prayer  before 
the  altar.  They  are  relieved  as  regularly  as  sentinels  ; 
and  day  and  night,  through  all  the  turbulent  scenes 
of  modern  French  history,  their  service  has  been 
unceasing.  Could  there  be  a  greater  contrast  than 
between  lives  so  spent  and  his  whose  dust  they 
guard  ?  The  inscription  upon  the  stone  which  covers 
Lafayette  is  very  simple,  and  no  word  reveals  the  fact 
that  he  ever  visited  America.  Surely,  this  is  not  the 
only  memorial  of  him  which  should  exist  in  the  capi 
tal  of  France.  Among  the  magnificent  monuments  of 
Paris  the  absence  of  one  ought  to  be  conspicuous  to 
every  American.  Where  is  the  equestrian  statue  of 
Lafayette  which  our  countrymen  should  have  placed 
in  that  city  ?  Twenty-five  years  ago  I  asked  myself 
this  question,  and  determined  to  do  what  I  could  to 
cause  the  deficiency  to  be  supplied.  And  an  occasion 
for  initiating  the  movement  soon  came.  On  the  22d 
of  February,  1856,  I  was  asked  to  preside  at  a  dinner 


LAFAYETTE  LEAVES  MASSACHUSETTS.     155 

of  Americans  in  Home.  Men  of  large  wealth  and 
social  distinction  were  collected  about  the  table.  I 
recall  Messrs.  Beekman  and  Harnersley,  of  New 
York;  Mr.  Corning,  of  Albany;  Dr.  Sharpless,  of 
Philadelphia  ;  Mr.  George  B.  Emerson,  of  Boston  ; 
and  many  others.  Crawford,  the  sculptor,  Page,  the 
painter,  with  men  of  lesser  fame,  represented  Ameri 
can  art.  This  was  just  the  occasion  to  introduce  the 
proposition  I  had  contemplated.  The  response  was 
enthusiastic.  Gentlemen  of  large  pecuniary  responsi 
bility  pledged  themselves  that  funds  should  be  forth 
coming.  An  equestrian  statue  of  Lafayette,  by  an 
American  artist,  should  be  placed  by  Americans  in 
the  city  of  Paris.  An  excellent  committee  was  at 
once  appointed,  and  I  was  directed  to  open  a  cor 
respondence  upon  the  subject  with  Mr.  Mason,  our 
minister  to  France.  And  here  the  project  was  brought 
to  a  sudden  end.  Mr.  Mason  wrote  that  the  govern 
ment  of  Napoleon  III.  refused  to  allow  such  a  memo 
rial  to  be  erected  in  Paris.  The  despotism  of  fraud 
and  sensuality  which  a  band  of  conspirators  had 
forced  upon  France  had  no  sympathy  with  the  pure 
and  honorable  republican. 

It  was  a  singularly  graceful  act  in  the  present 
government  of  France  to  atone  for  this  refusal  by 
presenting  to  the  city  of  New  York  the  statue  of 
Lafayette,  executed  by  a  French  artist,  which  now 
stands  in  Central  Park.  It  would  be  merely  a  fitting 
acknowledgment  of  this  courtesy  for  our  countrymen 
again  to  ask  the  privilege  (which  would  now  cordially 
be  given)  of  placing  in  the  city  of  Paris  a  statue  of 


156  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

him  who  was  the  benefactor  of  two  nations.  No 
public  monument  can  be  reared  of  more  significance, 
and  I  cannot  better  conclude  these  reminiscences  of 
Lafayette  than  by  commending  it  to  the  attention  of 
patriotic  Americans. 


THE  DUKE   OF  S AXE-WEIMAR  AND 
CAPTAIN   EYK. 


July  26,  1825,  the  ship  "Pallas"  entered 
Boston  harbor.  She  brought  an  extra  comple 
ment  of  thirty  officers,  a  picked  crew,  and  one  pas 
senger,  the  latter  being  his  Royal  Highness,  Charles 
Bernard,  Grand  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar.  It  is  not  the 
easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  live  up  to  such  a  title  as 
that ;  but  in  this  case  the  man  who  bore  it  was  quite 
equal  to  the  part,  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that 
no  finer  specimens  of  cultivated  European  gentlemen 
have  ever  visited  America  than  this  royal  Duke  and 
his  friend,  Captain  Ryk,  the  commander  of  the  "  Pal 
las."  The  two  volumes  of  travels  which  resulted  from 
this  visit  testify  to  the  accurate  observation  and  wide 
interests  of  their  author;  but  his  previous  history, 
added  to  his  distinguished  rank,  was  sufficient  to  make 
Duke  Bernard's  arrival  in  Boston  a  social  event  in 
those  days  of  smaller  excitements  and  less  rapid  life. 
The  father  of  the  prince  had  been  the  first  among 
German  sovereigns  to  grant  his  subjects  a  free  con 
stitution,  while  our  visitor  was  himself  a  distin 
guished  officer,  who  had  been  decorated  for  heroic 
conduct  at  the  battle  of  Wagram,  and  had  been  noted 
for  conspicuous  gallantry  upon  the  bloody  field  of 


158  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

Waterloo.  The  narrative  of  the  part  he  bore  in  the 
latter  gigantic  conflict,  then  so  recent,  abounds  with 
those  romantic  adventures  which  lend  a  lasting  inter 
est  to  their  hero.  He  had  acted  as  general  of  brigade 
in  the  service  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  entering  the 
battle  with  four  thousand  men,  of  whom  scarcely 
more  than  one  fourth  survived  its  terrible  slaughter. 
During  the  first  day  the  Duke  held  his  ground  reso 
lutely  against  a  force  three  times  as  large  as  his  own, 
and  finally  headed  a  desperate  bayonet-charge,  to  gain 
an  important  position  in  the  possession  of  the  French. 
Having  won  his  ground,  he  resolutely  maintained  it, 
while  the  supporting  wing  of  the  army  was  driven 
back  as  far  as  Quatre  Bras,  a  retreat  in  which 
"  Brunswick's  fated  chieftain  "  met  his  death.  The 
next  day,  after  a  bivouac  in  the  mud  and  drenched 
by  a  pelting  rain,  Bernard  rose  to  the  decisive  battle. 
He  was  ordered  to  maintain  a  village  of  strategic  im 
portance,  and  through  the  long  day  he  held  his  post 
by  constant  fighting  arid  with  heavy  losses  of  men. 
At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  result  was  still 
doubtful,  when  the  Prussians  under  General  Bulow 
arrived  to  decide  the  battle.  Some  of  these  new 
comers  were  sent  to  the  support  of  Bernard  and  his 
exhausted  command  ;  but  now  a  cruel  blunder  added 
to  the  horrors  of  the  day,  for  the  Prussians  sent  to 
the  aid  of  the  Duke  mistook  his  Nassau  troops  for 
Frenchmen,  and  advanced  upon  them  with  a  terrible 
fire.  The  men,  spent  and  exhausted  by  their  pro 
tracted  fighting,  were  for  a  time  demoralized  by  this 
unexpected  assault.  They  abandoned  their  post  and 


DUKE   OF   SAXE-WEIMAR   AND    CAPTAIN   RYK.      159 

fled  more  than  a  mile  before  their  brave  leader  was 
able  to  rally  them.  Three  years  after  Waterloo  the 
Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar  entered  the  service  of  the 
King  of  the  Netherlands,  and  was  appointed  military 
governor  of  Eastern  Flanders ;  and  this  post  he  still 
occupied  when  he  visited  America. 

I  was  constantly  with  the  Duke  during  his  stay  ill 
Boston,  meeting  him  at  parties,  taking  him  about  the 
city  in  the  week  and  to  the  King's  Chapel  on  Sun 
day.  I  have  noted  the  excellent  sermon  we  had  from 
Henry  Ware,  from  Proverbs  xi.  3,  and  my  gratifica 
tion  that  my  companion  should  hear  so  favorable  a 
specimen  of  a  Boston  preacher.  I  make  the  follow 
ing  extract  from  my  journal  for  August  3d  :  — 

"  Drove  George  Adams  to  Quincy  about  noon  this 
day.  At  first  we  went  to  his  grandfather's,  where  I 
was  introduced  to  a  very  pretty  Miss  Willis,  and 
afterward  enjoyed  half  an  hour's  conversation  with 
the  old  President.  My  father  arrived  later,  bringing 
the  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar  and  his  party.  Old  Mr. 
Adams  was  in  excellent  spirits.  When  Von  Tromp, 
a  descendant  of  the  great  Admiral,  was  introduced 
to  him,  he  exclaimed,  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm, 
1  Huzza  for  Von  Tromp  !  God  bless  Von  Tromp  ! ' 
In  fact,  I  hardly  ever  saw  the  old  gentleman  in  finer 
humor.  The  Duke,  Captain  Eyk,  and  several  gentle 
men  dined  with  us.  Ryk,  though  a  thorough  sailor, 
is  a  very  well-informed  man.  He  speaks  all  the 
languages  of  Europe,  and  seems  conversant  with  the 
literature  of  each.  He  quoted  passages  from  Milton 
and  Dante,  but  without  pedantry." 


160  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

And  this  brief  notice  is  all  I  have  given  of  the  day  ; 
but  I  have  fortunately  the  privilege  of  consigning  the 
reader  to  the  guidance  of  a  journal-writer  far  more 
accomplished  than  myself.  My  sister  lias  kindly 
permitted  me  to  copy  (with  some  omissions)  her  ex 
cellent  account  of  the  old-fashioned  country  dinner 
party  that  was  gathered  in  honor  of  our  European 
visitors.  Here  are  the  Duke  and  his  friends  as  seen 
through  the  eyes  of  a  young  lady  who  little  dreamed 
that  this  record  would  ever  stray  beyond  the  covers 
of  her  private  diary. 

"Wednesday,  August  3,  1825.  —  My  father  told  us 
that  he  should  bring  the  Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar  to 
dine  here  to-day,  and,  after  a  visit  to  Mr.  Adams, 
the  party  drove  up  to  the  door.  There  is  no  'And 
will  your  Highness  to  some  little  peer'  in  this  case; 
for  the  Duke  is  considerably  above  six  feet  in  height, 
with  a  finely  developed  figure.  His  face  is  pleasing 
and  intelligent,  his  dress  was  perfectly  plain,  and  he 
wore  no  orders,  but  carried  superb  and  massy  seals 
to  his  watch.  Just  behind  the  Duke  there  entered  a 
figure  in  full  uniform,  who  was  introduced  to  us  as 
Captain  Eyk,  of  the  ship  '"  Pallas.'  He  looked  like  a 
true  Dutchman,  both  in  face  and  figure.  In  addition 
to  sword  and  epaulets,  he  wore  two  crosses  hanging 
from  two  gold  coronets,  with  which  they  were  con 
nected  by  blue  and  red  ribbons.  One  was  the  Cross 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  which  he  afterward  told  me 
was  won  fighting  against  the  English.  Captain  Eyk 
is  apparently  forty,  with  a  countenance  all  good- 
humor  and  animation.  A  third  foreigner  was  Von 


DUKE   OF  SAXE-WEIMAR  AND   CAPTAIN   RYK.      161 

Tromp,  a  descendant  of  the  famous  Admiral  He  is 
a  pleasing  young  man  of  twenty-one,  and  has  come 
out  with  Captain  Kyk  to  study  naval  tactics.  '  You 
must  like  Mrs.  Quincy,'  said  my  father  to  the  Duke, 
'  for  she  is  half  a  German.'  '  What  part  of  Germany 
does  her  family  corne  from  ? '  inquired  our  visitor. 
'  Kaub,  on  the  Ehine,'  was  the  reply.  '  Ah  !  I  know 
Kaub  very  well.  There  is  a  small  island  there,  called 
the  Pfalz.  Have  you  not  a  view  of  it  ?  There  are 
some  excellent  prints;  I  produced  a  drawing  from 
an  engraving,  which  the  Duke  pronounced  very  cor 
rect,  and  proceeded  to  name  all  the  adjacent  places. 
'  Here  is  the  spot  where  the  French  once  built  a  pon 
toon  bridge  across  the  Ehine.  They  built  it  in  an 
incredibly  short  time/  The  Duke  then  examined 
our  Chinese  drawings  of  Canton,  and,  passing  to  the 
hall,  he  traced  upon  a  map  of  Canada  the  route  he 
intended  to  take.  Some  one  said  that  he  would  not 
find  comfortable  accommodations  in  American  taverns. 
'  Oh  !  I  am  a  soldier,'  was  the  reply.  '  If  there  is  no 
bed,  I  can  sleep  on  the  floor ;  if  no  floor,  then  on  the 
ground.' 

"  Meanwhile  the  rest  of  the  company  assembled,  — 
Dr.  Kirkland,  Dr.  Cooper,  Mr.  Everett,  Mr.  Salton- 
stall,  and  George  Adams.  Every  one  was  brought 
up  and  presented  to  our  guest,  who,  notwithstanding, 
insisted  upon  looking  through  a  portfolio  of  drawings 
he  had  taken  up,  and  commenting  with  great  quick 
ness  of  observation  upon  the  views  it  contained. 
When,  at  length,  he  went  into  the  other  room,  he 
called  Captain  Eyk  to  take  his  place,  saying,  'There 

11 


162  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

are  drawings  of  that  young  lady's  you  must  look  at/ 
The  Captain  obeyed  orders,  and  amused  me  very  much 
by  his  remarks.  He  was  as  acute  as  the  Duke,  and 
then  so  infinitely  odd.  Taking  up  a  view  of  Ching- 
ford  Church,  in  pencil,  he  said :  '  I  like  pencil ;  this 
is  very  pretty ;  but  then  you  cannot  make  such  fine 
works  as  with  India  ink.  I  like  that,  too,  that  way, 
with  gamboge  washed  over  it,'  pointing  to  a  view  of 
Niagara  from  Black  Rock.  '  But  —  Whew  !  whew  ! 
What  have  we  here  ? '  taking  up  the  likenesses  of 
two  Osage  Indians,  which  I  explained  to  him.  '  Fine- 
looking  fellow  !  Good  head  !  Possible  that  is  his 
hair,  stuck  up  so  ?  But  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  any 
more  queer  than  for  us  to  wear  these  things  of  gold 
lace  on  our  shoulders.  Do  you  know  how  to  cut 
heads  out  of  paper  so  as  to  throw  a  shadow  to  repre 
sent  a  drawing  ? '  I  said  I  had  seen  such  cuttings, 
but  could  not  cut  them  myself.  He  then  informed 
me  that  this  was  one  of  the  principal  amusements  of 
the  ladies  of  Germany,  and,  taking  up  a  piece  of  white 
paper  and  asking  for  scissors,  he  forthwith  began  to 
cut.  In  a  few  instants  he  fashioned,  with  the  greatest 
facility,  a  head,  which,  being  made  to  throw  a  shadow, 
represented  Christ,  after  some  old  painting.  It  was, 
indeed,  wonderful  to  see  the  adroitness  with  which  a 
rough  sailor  performed  this  work.  Upon  my  admir 
ing  it,  he  said,  holding  up  his  hand,  '  To  be  sure,  my 
hand  is  more  used  to  handle  the  marline-spike  than 
the  scissors.'  He  was  then  about  to  tear  the  head  in 
two ;  but  I  snatched  it  from  destruction  arid  told  him 
he  must  give  it  to  me.  My  father,  who  joined  us, 


DUKE   OF   SAXE- WEIMAR  AND   CAPTAIN   RYK.      163 

then  said,  'We  shall  keep  that  head,  Captain  Ryk, 
till  you  are  an  admiral,  and  then  we  shall  show  it  as 
a  great  treasure.' 

"  At  the  dinner-table  I  was  seated  between  the 
Duke  and  Dr.  Kirkland.  Opposite  were  Dr.  Cooper, 
Captain  Ryk,  and  Mr.  Everett.  The  rest  of  the  com 
pany  were  below.  His  Highness  having  inquired  the 
names  of  my  sisters,  T  (to  be  equal  in  inquisitiveness) 
asked  the  name  of  his  daughter.  '  Louisa ;  and  my 
two  sons  are  William  and  Edward.  My  daughter  is 
eight  years  old ;  my  eldest  son,  six ;  my  Englishman, 
as  I  call  him,  is  two;  and  I  presume  I  have  another 
German  son  now,  who  must  be  about  a  fortnight  or 
three  weeks  of  age.'  He  then  talked  to  me  of  his 
voyage.  He  had  stopped  on  the  coast  of  England, 
and  visited  Plymouth,  Portsmouth,  and  Falmouth. 
On  the  British  coast  he  was  in  danger  from  a  great 
gale.  Speaking  of  his  travels  two  years  ago,  in  Eng 
land,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  he  mentioned  that  he  had 
found  the  former  a  very  dear  country.  '  The  expense 
of  travelling  in  England,'  he  said,  '  is  really  enormous. 
You  have  to  pay  for  everything ;  but  I  saw  all  their 
manufactories,  except  that  of  Mr.  Watt,  at  Bolton. 
There  they  would  not  let  me  in.  At  the  great  houses 
you  must  always  pay  the  servants.  Many  noblemen, 
among  them  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  actually  sup 
port  their  establishments  in  this  way.'  The  remark 
was  overheard  by  one  of  the  other  gentlemen,  who 
said :  '  Then  the  Duke  equals  his  predecessor.  I  once 
heard  that  somebody  was  one  day  mistaken  in  the 
streets  of  London  for  the  old  Duke  of  Marlborough. 


164  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

Wishing  to  be  relieved  from  the  impertinent  curiosity 
of  a  crowd  who  were  following  him,  he  suddenly 
turned  and  threw  a  handful  of  silver  among  the  peo 
ple,  exclaiming,  "  Now  I  hope  you  are  satisfied  that 
I  am  not  the  Duke  ! "  ' 

"  The  Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar  seemed  to  have  a  full 
understanding  of  the  value  of  money,  and  said  many 
things  which  showed  that  his  possessions  were  by  no 
means  equal  to  his  rank.  He  asked  some  questions 
about  Stuart's  paintings,  and  added,  'Is  he  very 
dear  ? '  Indeed,  the  Duke  was  so  simple  and  unpre 
tending  that  I  should  have  forgotten  his  title  had  I 
not  been  continually  reminded  of  it  by  calls  from  the 
other  end  of  the  table:  'Will  your  Highness  take 
this  ? '  '  Shall  I  have  the  honor  of  a  glass  of  wine 
with  your  Highness  ? '  etc.  I  was  particularly  struck 
with  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Everett  pronounced 
the  words.  '  Have  you  visited  Italy,  Mr.  Everett  ? ' 
'  Yes,  your  Highness.'  It  was  said  with  a  reverence 
of  voice  and  manner  which  appeared  to  me,  to  say 
the  least,  superfluous.  I  suppose  Mr.  Everett  wished 
to  show  that  he  was  accustomed  to  the  manners  of 
Europe.  Of  Captain  Kyk  the  Duke  said :  '  He  is  a 
very  clever  man.  He  began  as  a  cabin-boy,  and  has 
raised  himself  by  his  talents  and  bravery.  He  has 
been  in  many  actions.  His  present  situation  shows 
the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held,  for  his  ship  is  filled 
with  young  officers,  whom  he  instructs  in  naval  tac 
tics.'  In  the  course  of  the  dinner,  Captain  Eyk 
described  his  sail  through  the  Straits  of  Scylla  and 
Charybdis.  He  commanded  a  seventy -four,  and  passed 


DUKE    OF   SAXE- WEIMAR   AND    CAPTAIN    RYK.      165 

in  perfect  safety  ;  '  not  even,'  he  said,  '  putting  wool 
in  my  ears,  like  Ulysses,  for  fear  of  the  sirens.'  He 
spoke  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  relics,  and  described 
some  he  saw  in  the  Cathedral  at  Milan.  Among  them 
there  was  a  large  stone  chained  to  the  wall.  Upon 
asking  for  what  it  was  remarkable,  the  monk  who 
acted  as  showman  replied  :  '  Why,  that  is  a  miracu 
lous  stone.  It  fell  from  the  top  of  the  dome  without 
hurting  a  single  person.'  '  I  suppose  that  was  because 
nobody  was  in  the  church,'  replied  the  Captain,  '  and 
I  suppose  you  have  chained  it  there  lest  a  second 
miracle  should  be  performed  and  it  should  fly  up 
again.'  '  I  see  you  are  a  heretic  ! '  exclaimed  the 
monk. 

"  The  Duke  had  been  asking  a  great  many  questions 
about  the  Indians,  and  suddenly  inquired  whether  I 
had  ever  seen  any  of  the  skulls  of  their  enemies  which 
the  aborigines  preserve.  I  was  somewhat  shocked  at 
this  question,  and  turned  the  subject  of  the  conversa 
tion  ;  but  the  skulls  seemed  to  have  taken  hold  of  the 
Duke's  imagination  and  were  not  to  be  dislodged.  He 
wished  to  investigate  the  matter  thoroughly,  perhaps 
•from  the  fear  that  the  Indians  might  perform  some 
of  their  ceremonies  upon  himself ;  so,  calling  across 
the  table  to  Captain  Ryk,  he  demanded  in  German 
what  was  the  English  for  schddel.  '  Why,  skull,  skull,' 
said  the  Captain.  Thus  reassured,  the  Duke  returned 
to  the  inquiry.  '  Miss  Quincy,  have  you  ever  seen 
any  of  the  skulls  of  their  enemies  which  the  Indians 
drink  out  of  ? '  I  replied  that  I  never  had,  and 
hoped  they  had  given  up  such  a  horrid  practice.  '  I 


166  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

agree  with  you,'  said  Captain  Eyk.  'For  my  own 
part,  I  very  much  prefer  a  good  clean  glass,  like  this. 
A  skull  is  not  a  very  pretty  thing.  How  should  you 
like  to  see  a  row  of  them  round  this  table  ?  It  would 
be  quite  in  the  style  of  Ossian's  heroes,  to  be  sure. 
You  know  they  always  used  skulls  for  drinking-cups ; 
but  they  would  not  be  very  pretty  nowadays.'  Here 
the  conversation  was  interrupted  by  my  father,  who 
called  the  attention  of  the  company  to  a  toast, —  The 
King  of  the  Netherlands.  This  being  drunk  with 
due  respect,  he  was  about  to  propose  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Saxe-Weimar,  the  father  of  our  guest,  when  the 
son  interrupted  him,  saying,  '  With  your  leave,  I 
will  give  the  next  toast  —  The  President  of  the  United 
States  and  his  venerable  Father'  After  this  we  drank 
the  health  of  his  Royal  Highness  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Saxe-Weimar,  and  our  visitor  bowed  low  to  the 
company  in  return  for  the  compliment  to  his  father. 
Some  Constantia  wine  was  then  offered.  This  had 
been  brought  from  the  Cape  by  Major  Shaw,  in  the 
year  1792.  Mr.  S.  G.  Perkins  told  my  father  that 
this  wine  was  now  very  valuable,  worth  in  England 
several  guineas  a  bottle,  and  that  he  must  never  pro 
duce  it  except  for  some  very  distinguished  guest,  such 
as  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Everett 
now  leaned  forward  and  said,  'I  beg  leave  to  pro 
pose  a  toast, —  The  Health  of  the  Duchess  Ida!  This 
was  accordingly  drunk  in  Constantia,  and  it  was  a 
good  notion  of  Mr.  Everett  to  give  the  lady  in  the 
first  glass  of  sweet  wine.  Unfortunately,  however, 
the  Duke  made  a  mistake  as  to  the  author  of  the 


DUKE   OF   S  AXE -WEIMAR  AND   CAPTAIN   EYK.      167 

compliment;  for,  leaning  forward,  he  bowed  to  Mr. 
Shepherd,  who  sat  on  our  side  of  the  table,  opposite 
to  Mr.  Everett,  and  said,  '  I  hope  the  Duchess  will 
thank  you,  when  you  visit  us  at  Ghent,  next  year.' 
The  blunder  was  unfortunate,  but  there  seemed  no 
way  of  rectifying  it.  My  father  then  gave :  The 
Ladies  of  Rotterdam.  'Ah!'  said  Captain  Eyk,  in 
an  undertone,  '  Yon  Tromp  is  at  the  bottom  of  that, 
I  know.  He  has  left  his  heart  in  Rotterdam.'  The 
Captain  then  spoke  of  his  own  wife  with  great  affec 
tion.  '  I  have  a  picture  of  her  on  board  my  ship,'  he 
said,  '  and  it  is  generally  covered  by  a  curtain  ;  but 
when  the  storms  come  and  the  winds  are  high  I  draw 
the  curtain  aside,  because  it  does  me  good  to  see  her 
smile.' 

"  The  conversation  turning  upon  General  Washing 
ton,  Captain  Eyk  said,  'When  I  pass  Mt.  Vernon, 
every  color  on  my  ship  shall  be  lowered  and  every 
gun  fired,  and  I  and  my  men  shall  stand  with  our 
hats  off.'  The  Duke  then  told  several  long  stories 
about  the  proceedings  of  the  Catholics  and  the 
way  in  which  their  plans  had  been  defeated.  At 
some  of  them  he  laughed,  and  was  joined  by  the 
company;  but  he  spoke  so  fast  and  in  such  im 
perfect  English  that  I  did  not  hear  them  distinctly 
enough  to  report.  When  we  went  into  the  drawing- 
room,  the  Duke  seated  himself  before  the  piano. 
Mr.  Everett,  who  followed  us,  seemed  amused  at  his 
position ;  but,  preserving  all  veneration  of  tone  and 
manner,  said,  '  Ladies,  cannot  you  prevail  upon  his 
Highness  to  favor  us  with  a  tune  ? '  But  our  guest 


168  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

did  not  perform  upon  any  instrument ;  and,  after  some 
talk  about  music  and  French  masters,  he  went  into 
the  library.  Captain  Eyk,  then  being  asked  by  my 
youngest  sister  to  cut  out  something  for  her,  took 
paper  and  scissors  and  produced  two  beautiful  little 
flowers,  a  rose  and  a  hyacinth.  They  were  exqui 
sitely  fashioned,  the  leaves  being  arranged  with  the 
greatest  taste.  He  laughed  and  talked  all  the  time 
he  was  at  work,  and  said,  when  he  had  finished, 
'  Now,  you  must  not  show  these  flowers  to  any  of 
my  men,  or  all  my  discipline  would  be  at  an  end.' 
On  his  return  from  the  library,  the  Duke  expressed 
a  wish  to  attend  a  family  celebration,  which  would 
take  place  in  1833.  'That  will  be  in  eight  years,' 
said  he,  '  and  one  of  my  sons  will  then  be  old  enough 
to  go  to  college ;  so  I  will  send  him  to  Harvard.'  My 
-  mother  asked  if  he  did  not  intend  to  have  his  son 
educated  at  Jena,  and  spoke  of  Weimar  as  the  Athens 
of  Germany.  'As  for  Weimar,'  replied  the  Duke, 
'  almost  all  the  literary  men  who  once  made  it  famous 
are  dead,  and  to  Jena  I  would  never  send  a  son. 
No,  I  had  rather  give  him  a  pistol  and  put  him  in 
the  midst  of  a  battle  than  send  him  to  that  univer 
sity.  In  battle  he  might  have  some  chance  of  escape, 
or  at  least  die  honorably ;  in  Jena  he  would  be  sure 
to  be  ruined.  The  fashions  of  the  place  are  to  rebel 
against  the  government  and  to  fight  duels.'  The 
Duke's  account  corresponded  exactly  with  what  Mr. 
Ticknor  had  told  me  of  the  German  universities,  and 
I  liked  him  for  speaking  so  openly  of  the  faults  of 
his  country. 


DUKE    OF   SAXE-WEIMAR   AND    CAPTAIN   RYK.      169 

"  At  length,  after  all  the  other  gentlemen  had  de 
parted,  the  carriage  drove  to  the  door.  Captain  Eyk 
was  in  high  spirits,  laughing  and  talking  with  the 
girls  and  even  beginning  to  sing,  when  the  Duke 
said  to  him  in  German  that  it  was  time  to  go.  The 
instantaneous  change  in  his  manner  was  very  strik 
ing.  All  his  drollery  vanished,  as  he  raised  his  hand 
to  his  head  and  made  a  military  sign  of  obedience. 
Both  gentlemen  then  shook  hands  very  cordially  with 
us  all,  the  Captain  saying  that  he  should  come  and 
see  us  a<zain  before  leaving  Boston.  I  have  been  so 

O  o 

taken  up  with  the  foreigners  that  I  have  said  noth 
ing  of  Dr.  Cooper,  the  President  of  Columbia  College, 
who  is  a  learned  and  remarkable  man.  He  has  a  very 
singular  head,  but  is  short  and  has  the  appearance  of 
a  man  who  has  spent  his  life  among  books.  Though 
his  dress  is  neglected,  there  is  much  dignity  in  his 
manner,  and  ^the  Duke  paid  him  marked  attention 
whenever  he  spoke.  I  should  like  to  see  him  again, 
when  we  are  more  at  leisure." 

I  have  before  me  the  account  of  another  long 
summer  afternoon  which  Captain  Ryk  passed  with 
us  at  Quincy,  on  which  occasion  he  played  upon  the 
guitar,  with  the  skill  of  a  troubadour ;  but  this  I  am 
compelled  to  omit,  together  with  a  notice  of  the  re 
ception  and  dance  he  gave  on  board  the  "  Pallas,"  in 
acknowledgment  of  the  civilities  he  had  received  in 
Boston.  I  have  come  upon  some  letters  from  the 
Duke  and  Captain  Eyk/ the  former  writing  in  French 
and  the  latter  in  English,  in  which  he  stumbles  so 
prettily  that  I  must  copy  the  story  of  the  dog  "  Bos- 


170  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

ton  "  (a  noble  animal,  given  to  the  Captain  as  a  me 
morial  of  his  visit)  just  as  his  master  tells  it.  The 
letter  was  written  about  a  year  after  his  visit,  and 
the  "  young  similar  dog  "  has  done  duty  as  a  house 
hold  phrase  ever  sioce. 

"  I  have  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  my  poor  New 
foundland  dog,  my  poor  '  Boston.'  One  of  my  ser 
vants  played  with  him  imprudently  with  the  stop  of 
a  glass  decanter.  The  dog  swallowed  it.  The  ser 
vant  dared  not  give  me  information  thereof,  and  a 
few  days  afterward  my  poor  '  Boston  '  died.  I  cannot 
tell  you  how  deeply  I  feel  the  loss  of  that  faithful 
animal.  He  was  so  beloved  in  my  household  that 
both  my  wife  and  children  wept  at  his  death,  and  I 
confess  that  I  was  very  near  to  do  the  same.  Could 
you  find  me  another  —  a  young  similar  dog  ?  I  will 
equally  call  him  '  Boston.'  The  former,  stuffed,  I  be 
lieve  you  call  it  (empailU,  says  the  Frenchman),  still 
lays  in  rny  cabin,  and  shall  remain  there  till  a  living 
one  shall  come  in  his  place.  I  hope  you  will  be  able 
to  read  this  letter.  I  am  always  at  a  loss  when  I 
write  English  ;  but,  should  my  expressions  fail,  you 
may  be  sure  the  meanings  are  good  and  my  heart 
beats  warmly  for  you  and  your  countrymen.  God 
bless  them  all." 

An  extract  from  yet  another  letter,  dated  September 
1,  1839,  shall  give  us  a  last  glimpse  of  good  Captain 
Byk:  — 

"  I  am  now  admiral.  My  breast  is  covered  with 
crosses ;  but  my  heart  is  the  same  as  when  I  lived 
among  my  Boston  friends,  and  whenever  we  meet 


DUKE  OF   SAXE- WEIMAR  AND   CAPTAIN   RYK.      171 

again  they  will  find  the  shaking  of  the  hand  will 
be  equally  heartily  as  it  was  fourteen  years  ago, 
and  that  no"  badges  of  honor  outside  have  made  a 
change  in  my  old-fashioned,  plain  Dutch  heart.  My 
new  situation  as  governor-general  of  the  Dutch  West 
India  Colonies  gives  me  so  much  occupation  that  I 
have  little  time  to  write  to  my  friends.  Our  good 
king  (a  king  that  even  a  stern  republican  might  love 
and  admire)  has  placed  great  confidence  in  me,  and  I 
must  make  myself  worthy  of  it.  When  you  have 
time,  do  write  to  me  about  my  Boston  friends.  I  have 
not  forgotten  any  of  them,  nor  the  town ;  not  even 
the  beautiful  trees  on  the  Common." 

The  volume  of  my  journal  marked  "  1855  "  gives  a 
parting  look  at  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar.  It  is 
Sunday,  the  15th  of  July,  of  the  year  just  named; 
and  at  the  close  of  the  day  I  devote  some  pages  to  a 
description  of  its  occurrences.  Mr.  August  Belmont, 
our  minister  to  the  Hague,  where  I  was  then  staying^ 
called  for  me  in  the  afternoon,  and,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Tyson,  of  Pennsylvania,  we  drove  in  a  New  York 
trotting-wagon  (at  which  the  sober  Dutchmen  stared) 
to  a  fine  sea-beach  in  the  neighborhood.  There  we 
found  a  hotel,  a  band  playing,  and  groups  of  well- 
dressed  people  regaling  themselves  at  little  tables  or 
walking  upon  the  sands.  "  All  the  foreign  ministers 
are  here  this  afternoon,"  said  Mr.  Belmont, "  and  there 
are  many  of  the  nobility  of  Holland."  A  gentle  rip 
ple  of  sensation  ran  through  the  company  as  a  lady 
and  gentleman  descended  from  a  carriage  and  walked 
upon  the  sands.  "  There  is  the  Queen,  and  the  old 


172  FIGURES    OF   THE    PAST. 

gentleman  with  her  is  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar," 
said  one  of  my  companions.  I  gazed  intently  upon 
the  features  of  an  elderly  man,  slightly  lame  and 
nearly  blind,  and  could  find  little  in  common  with 
those  of  the  handsome  officer  in  the  prime  of  life 
whom  we  had  feted  thirty  years  before.  It  has  been 
said  that  a  man  will  differ  from  his  former  self  more 
than  many  men  of  the  same  age  differ  from  one 
another.  So  far  as  the  physical  organization  goes,  this 
is  probably  true,  and  a  feeling  of  overwhelming  sad 
ness  oppressed  me  as  the  tall  shadow  passed  across 
the  beach.  As  etiquette  prevented  any  approach  to 
the  Duke  while  in  attendance  upon  the  Queen,  I  had 
time  to  recall  the  old  associations  before  meeting  him 
in  the  evening ;  for  that  evening  we  did  meet,  and 
what  a  talk  we  had !  The  Duke  was,  after  all,  the 
frank  and  simple  gentleman  with  whom  I  had  strolled 
about  an  old  Boston,  guiltless  of  a  foreign  element,  of 
railroads,  and  of  transcendentalism.  He  gave  me  a 
rapid  sketch  of  his  subsequent  life.  He  had  passed 
many  years  in  the  East  Indies,  as  commander  of  the 
Dutch  forces,  and  had  now  come  to  end  his  days  with 
his  daughter,  who  had  married  a  brother  of  the  king- 
He  told  me  that  our  good  friend  Admiral  Eyk  had 
died  the  year  before,  and  that  Yon  Tromp  was  at  the 
head  of  the  navy  yard  at  Amsterdam.  His  remem 
brances  of  America  were  very  vivid,  and  he  asked 
with  great  interest  concerning  the  subsequent  histo 
ries  of  the  friends  he  had  made  in  Boston.  We  had 
met  in  the  fashionable  club-house  of  "  The  Hague," 
and  upon  this  neutral  ground  our  intercourse  was 


DUKE   OF   SAXE-WEIMAR   AND    CAPTAIN   RYK.      173 

easier  than  would  have  been  possible  under  other 
circumstances.  In  fact,  we  talked  till  late  into  the 
night.  The  Duke  called  upon  me  before  breakfast 
the  next  morning ;  but  I  missed  him  and  we  never 
met  again.  The  painful  impression  of  the  infirm  man 
is  happily  blurred  in  my  memory ;  and  when  the  Duke 
of  Saxe-Weimar  is  mentioned  I  see  only  the  symmet 
rical  figure  of  the  young  hero  who  was  our  guest  in 
1825. 


THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET. 


IF  Governor  Long,  of  Massachusetts,  should  visit 
Nantucket  some  summer  day  (as  he  is  very  likely 
to  do),  the  circumstance  would  create  no  special  stir 
in  a  community  where  life  is  even  now  a  little 
monotonous.  He  might  leave  Boston  in  the  morn 
ing,  pass  a  few  hours  on  the  island,  and  return  to  a 
late  dinner.  The  inhabitants  would  pursue  their 
usual  vocations,  totally  unaware  that  anything  re 
markable  had  taken  place.  It  was  far  otherwise  in 
the  autumn  of  1825,  when  Governor  Lincoln  made 
his  memorable  visit  to  their  island.  No  governor  of 
Massachusetts  had  ever  trodden  the  shores  of  Nan- 
tucket,  and  the  impression  of  the  executive  boot 
upon  its  sands  excited  the  same  sort  of  interest  as 
the  print  of  an  unclad  foot  awakened  in  the  breast 
of  De  Foe's  immortal  islander. 

Surely  it  was  time  for  a  well-disposed  governor  to 
brave  the  fatigues  and  perils  of  the  journey,  in  order 
to  show  himself  in  one  of  the  most  prosperous  coun 
ties  under  his  sway ;  for  at  that  time  the  island  con 
tained  eight  thousand  inhabitants,  and  did  a  greater 
amount  of  business  in  respect  to  its  population  than 
any  county  in  the  State,  with  the  single  exception  of 


THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET.       175 

Suffolk.  And  so  Governor  Lincoln  resolved  to  break 
the  spell  which  had  held  the  long  line  of  his  prede 
cessors  from  their  thriving  province ;  and,  accordingly, 
his  aides-de-camp,  John  Brazer  Davis  and  myself, 
were  commanded  to  hold  ourselves  in  readiness  to 
accompany  the  expedition.  We  were  ordered  to  ap 
pear  without  uniforms,  an  unheard-of  omission  when 
in  attendance  upon  the  commander-in-chief ;  but  Lin 
coln  saw  that  any  military  reception  or  civil  parade 
could  not  be  expected  in  a  community  in  which  the 
Quakers  or  Friends  were  the  predominating  power, 
and  that,  with  their  well-known  views  respecting  the 
legitimacy  of  war,  an  exhibition  of  the  trappings  even 
of  holiday  colonels  would  be  out  of  taste.  I  feel  sure 
that  our  good  chief  must  have  come  to  these  con 
clusions  with  some  reluctance.  Personally  he  would 
have  liked  the  entry  upon  horseback  and  in  full  uni 
form  that  was  then  customary  for  a  governor.  He 
rode  well,  and  carried  off  the  epaulets,  gold  lace,  and 
plume  with  easy  dignity,  as  the  decent  proprieties  of 
his  position.  And  this  excellent  Democrat  lived  to 
see  a  successor  from  the  opposing  party  who  declined 
to  honor  public  occasions  with  the  modest  decoration 
of  a  shirt-collar.  The  tendency  to  cut  away  all 
graceful  fringes  and  ornaments  from  our  rulers  is  too 
strong  to  be  resisted ;  but  I  doubt  whether  official 
position  has  gained  in  purity  by  discarding  all  its 
innocent  symbolism. 

On  Tuesday,  September  5th,  at  eleven  o'clock  in 
the  forenoon,  the  Governor  entered  the  Plymouth 
stage,  and,  with  Hezekiah  Barnard,  Treasurer  of  the 


176  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

Commonwealth,  and  Aaron  Hill,  Postmaster  of  Bos 
ton,  occupied  the  back  seat,  which,  as  the  place  of 
honor,  had  been  reserved  for  these  dignitaries.  The 
middle  and  front  seats  were  then  filled  by  Miss  Abby 
Hedge,  three  young  ladies  whose  names  I  have  not 
preserved,  Colonel  Davis,  and  myself.  A  merry  six- 
hours'  ride  we  had  of  it,  —  we  young  people,  at  least. 
My  journal  tells  how  bright  and  lively  was  Miss 
Hedge,  who  was  quite  a  match  for  a  couple  of  colo 
nels  in  readiness  of  apprehension,  and  who,  when  the 
fire  of  fun  and  repartee  began  to  slacken,  produced 
just  the  stimulant  required  in  the  form  of  a  package 
of  peppermints.  This  animated  young  lady  afterward 
married  a  gentleman  quite  equal  to  herself  in  humor 
and  good  social  qualities.  The  name  of  Charles  H. 
Warren  (better  known  as  Judge  Warren)  could  never 
be  mentioned  by  his  contemporaries  without  a  smile 
of  obligation.  It  has  been  my  fortune  to  preside  at 
several  public  dinners,  —  indeed,  I  counted  up  some 
thirty  of  them  the  other  day;  and,  of  all  men,  it 
becomes  me  to  express  a  sense  of  the  value  of  his 
contributions  to  the  general  mirth.  "  Is  Judge  War 
ren  to  be  at  your  dinner  ? "  was  my  first  question  to 
the  committees  who  came  to  offer  me  the  head  of  the 
table.  "  If  he  is  to  be  there,  and  will  consent  to  be 
called  upon,  why  then  I,  or  any  other  King  Log,  will 
do  for  a  president."  And  quite  as  important  was 
the  presence  of  Mrs.  Warren  (that  was  to  be)  to  the 
enjoyment  of  the  bevy  of  careless  travellers  who  sat 
face  to  face  upon  the  front  seats  of  that  Plymouth 
coach.  What  cared  we  for  the  grave  discussions  of 


THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET.       177 

the  Governor,  Treasurer,  and  Postmaster,  who  were 
running  the  State  just  behind  us  ?  How  soon  would 
it  be  possible  to  complete  a  canal  from  Boston  har 
bor  to  the  Connecticut  Eiver  ?  Would  or  would  not 
the  Commissioners  report  that  the  scheme  was  prac 
ticable  ?  What  then  of  the  project  of  uniting  Lakes 
Champlain  and  Memphremagog  with  our  central 
stream,  and  so  whitening  Massachusetts  Bay  with 
the  sails  which  this  magnificent  opening  of  the  back 
country  would  necessitate  ?  These  and  other  ques 
tions  quite  as  momentous  were  thoroughly  discussed 
upon  the  back  seat,  and  the  reader  might  have  heard 
all  about  them  if  the  future  Mrs.  Warren  and  her  fair 
companions  had  only  taken  passage  by  some  other 
coach.  In  that  case  it  is  pretty  certain  that  one  of 
the  colonels  would  have  pulled  out  his  note-book  and 
appropriated  some  of  the  wisdom  which  his  superiors 
were  dispensing  with  such  liberality. 

We  had  a  public  reception  at  Plymouth,  for  a 
governor  was  in  those  days  an  unusual  guest  even 
in  places  within  six  hours'  staging  of  the  capital. 
The  principal  citizens  assembled  about  our  party,  and 
performed  the  ceremony  of  hand-shaking  in  behalf  of 
the  less  honorable  multitude  who  had  not  yet  learned 
to  demand  their  full  rights  in  this  particular.  I  have 
heard  some  of  our  more  recent  public  men  confess 
that  submission  to  the  tactual  privileges  of  their 
equal  democrats  was  the  bitterest  trial  of  official 
position,  one  of  them  informing  me  that  he  was  ac 
customed  to  devote  a  day  to  groaning  with  poulticed 
hand  and  bandaged  arm  after  receiving  the  honors  of 

12 


178  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

a  reception.     Fortunately,  the  mild  flavor  of  aristoc 
racy  still  surrounding  a  governor  saved  Lincoln  from 
this  infliction,  - —  fortunately,   I   say  ;  for  his  Excel 
lency  had  no  time  for  poulticing,  but  was  compelled 
to  rise  at  half  past  three  the  morning  after  the  lim 
ited  hand-shaking  of  the  reception,  in  order  to  undergo 
the  more  general  shaking  of  the  stage  which  bore  our 
party  to   Sandwich.     A   noted   resort  for  sportsmen 
was  Sandwich  in  those  days,  and  a  famous  inn,  whose 
cook  knew  how  to  dress  the  birds  which  the  guns  of 
the  guests  never  failed  to  furnish,  added  to  the  repu 
tation  of  the  town.     And  in  this  inn  Daniel  Webster 
was  staying  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  though  we  missed 
him,  as  he  had  gone  off  to  shoot  plover.     The  great 
man,  however,  was   by  no  means  unmindful  of  his 
duty  to  the  head  of  the  State,  and  had  supplied  a 
proxy,  in  the  person    of   his   friend,   George   Blake. 
"You  must  stay  behind  and  see  that  the  Governor 
gets  the  right  sort  of  breakfast  after  his  long  ride," 
said  Mr.  Webster.     And  so  Mr.  Blake  did  stay,  and 
was  eminently  successful  in  providing  a  meal  which, 
garnished  with  his  own  charming  mariners,  still  lives 
in  my  memory  as  the  ideal  of  all  country  breakfasts. 
After  this  liberal  entertainment  we  journeyed  on  to 
Falmouth,  where  we  arrived  somewhat  before  noon, 
and  there,  all  ready  to  set  sail,  we  found  the  Nan- 
tucket  packet ;  and  there  also  we  found  a  head  wind, 
which   positively  prohibited    the   Nantucket   packet 
from  doing   anything   of  the  sort.     Oh,  those  head 
winds  !     What  plagues  they  were  to  those  who  were 
in  a  hurry  to  leave  our  harbors,  and  how  steam  has 


THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET.       179 

lengthened  the  lives  of  travellers  by  sparing  them 
those  dreary  waits  !  We  had  risen  at  a  most  uncom 
fortable  hour,  to  post  on  to  Falmouth ;  and  here  we 
might  remain  a  week,  unless  the  wind  condescended 
to  blow  from  some  quarter  that  would  allow  our 
vessel  to  get  out  of  the  bay.  We  accepted  this  fact 
with  such  philosophy  as  was  available,  listening  the 
while  to  the  prognostications  of  the  skippers  and 
frequently  gazing  at  the  heavens  for  such  hopes  or 
consolations  as  they  might  supply.  But  we  were 
not,  on  this  occasion,  to  be  tried  bevond  our  strength ; 

«/  O          J 

for  as  the  sun  went  down  the  wind  hauled  several 
points,  and  we  were  off.  Concerning  the  passage,  I 
will  only  observe  that  the  Nantucket  packet,  although 
it  carried  the  ruler  of  a  sovereign  state,  could  by  no 
means  transform  itself  into  a  royal  yacht.  We  were 
stowed  in  narrow  bunks,  in  an  indiscriminate  and 
vulgar  manner,  and  took  such  repose  as  we  might  till 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  a  sudden  thud, 
followed  by  an  unpleasant  swashing  sound  about  the 
sides  of  the  vessel,  brought  us  to  our  feet  to  in 
quire  what  had  happened.  "All  right!"  said  the 
skipper.  "Just  you  lie  still  till  morning.  We're 
aground  on  Nantucket  Bar.  That 's  all."  Thus  ad 
jured,  we  thought  it  best  to  remain  below,  till  a  faint 
suspicion  of  dawn  struggled  into  the  cabin  and  gave 
us  an  excuse  for  coming  upon  deck.  Several  whaling 
ships,  anchored  outside  the  harbor,  loomed  to  gigan 
tic  proportions  in  the  gray  morning.  "  There  is  Yan 
kee  perseverance  for  you  !  "  exclaimed  the  Governor. 
"Would  they  believe  in  Europe  that  a  port  which 


180  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

annually  sends  eighty  of  those  whalers  to  the  Pacific 
has  a  harbor  which  a  sloop  drawing  eight  feet  of 
water  cannot  enter  ? " 

Soon  after  sunrise  the  tide  lighted  us  over  the  bar, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  two  whale-boats  were  seen 
pulling  sturdily  for  the  packet.  In  the  stern  of  one 
sat  Mr.  Barker  Burnell,  and  in  the  other  Mr.  Mace)', 
both  leading  men,  to  whom  the  islanders  had  dele 
gated  the  duties  of  reception.  And  full  of  modest 
cordiality  was  our  greeting  by  the  occupants  of  the 
boats  and  by  the  crowd  of  citizens  who  had  assem 
bled  upon  the  shore  to  see  the  Governor  land.  There 
was  no  pushing  or  vulgar  staring ;  indeed,  there  was 
a  certain  pervading  air  of  diffidence  by  no  means 
characteristic  of  street  assemblies  upon  the  conti 
nent  ;  but  the  heartiest  good-will  beamed  from  sober 
faces  when  the  long  spell  was  broken  and  the  execu 
tive  fairly  stood  upon  Nantucket  sands. 

As  there  was  no  house  sufficiently  capacious  to 
accommodate  our  party,  it  was  divided  among  the 
hospitable  inhabitants,  the  Governor  and  Colonel 
Davis  being  entertained  by  Mr.  Macey,  Mr.  Hill  by 
Treasurer  Barnard,  and  the  youngest  aide-de-camp  by 
Mr.  Burnell.  And  then  came  visits  to  the  whale- 
ships  and  the  spermaceti  works,  dinners,  and  evening 
receptions,  the  latter  being  graced  by  the  presence  of 
very  pretty  young  women.  Then  on  Saturday  morn 
ing  carriages  were  ordered  to  take  us  to  Siasconset,  — 
that  is,  it  will  sound  better  to  call  them  carriages ; 
but  they  were,  in  fact,  springless  tip-carts,  very  like 
those  used  at  the  present  day  for  the  carting  of  gravel. 


THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET.       181 

The  ancient  Eomans,  when  enjoying  a  triumph,  ap 
pear  to  have  ridden  in  two-wheeled  vehicles,  bearing 
considerable  resemblance  to  that  in  which  our  Massa 
chusetts  chieftain  passed  through  the  admiring  streets 
of  Nantucket ;  but  none  of  these  old  heroes  balanced 
himself  more  deftly  in  his  chariot,  took  its  jolts  with 
more  equanimity,  or  bowed  more  graciously  to  the 
populace  than  did  good  Governor  Lincoln,  when  un 
dergoing  his  transportation  by  tip-cart.  There  are 
some  personalities  which  seem  to  supply  their  own 
pageantry.  Mr.  Pickwick  is  not  extinguished  even 
when  trundled  in  a  wheelbarrow.  The  escort,  how 
ever  (perhaps  from  having  no  adequate  official  dignity 
to  bear  them  up),  rather  wilted  before  they  reached 
Siasconset,  and  found  the  noble  chowder  there  pre 
pared  for  their  commander-in-chief  very  acceptable. 

The  Governor's  visit  may  be  said  to  have  reached 
its  crisis  in  a  solemn  reception  at  the  Insurance  Office, 
whither  repaired  all  the  leading  citizens,  to  be  pre 
sented  to  their  guest.  Many  of  them  were  old 
whalers,  simple  and  intelligent,  yet  with  that  air  of 
authority  which  the  habit  of  command,  exercised  in 
difficult  situations,  is  sure  to  give.  Their  ruddy 
health,  strong  nerves,  and  abundant  energy  made  one 
suspect  that  there  were  some  of  the  finest  human 
qualities  which  are  not  to  be  tested  by  the  exami 
nations  of  Harvard  College.  I  was  introduced  to 
several  of  these  men  who  had  never  been  on  the  con 
tinent  of  North  America,  though  they  had  visited 
South  America  and  the  Pacific  Islands.  I  have  noted 
also  talking  with'  one  Quaker  gentleman  of  sixty,  who 


182  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

had  seen  no  other  horizon  than  that  which  bounds 
Nan  tucket.  The  Friends,  being  the  oldest  and  most 
respectable  body  of  Christians,  gave  their  sombre 
color  to  the  town  and  their  thrifty  ways  to  those 
holding  its  purse-strings.  For  instance,  when  it  was 
complained  that  Nantucket,  the  greatest  depot  of  sper 
maceti  and  whale  oil  in  the  whole  world,  was,  like 
wise,  its  darkest  corner  in  the  evening,  it  was  replied 
that  it  would  be  culpably  extravagant  to  consume  at 
home  in  street-lanterns  oil  that  had  been  procured 
for  exportation.  Moreover,  the  reckless  innovator 
was  invited  to  impale  himself  upon  one  of  the  horns 
of  this  little  dilemma :  "  Oil  was  either  high  or  low. 
Now,  if  it  was  low,  the  citizens  could  not  afford  to  pay 
the  tax;  but  if  it  was  high,  the  town  could  not  afford 
to  purchase  it."  After  the  reception,  we  all  went  to 
the  barber-shop,  not  to  be  shaved,  but  to  inspect  the 
collection  of  South  Sea  curiosities  of  which  this  func 
tionary  was  the  custodian.  And  here  we  lingered 
till  it  was  time  to  prepare  for  the  grand  party  in 
honor  of  the  Governor,  which  would  furnish  a  bril 
liant  conclusion  to  his  visit. 

This  party  was  given  by  Mr.  Aaron  Mitchell,  and 
was  said  to  be  the  finest  in  all  its  appointments  that 
the  island  had  yet  known.  There  was,  of  course,  no 
dancing ;  but  the  number  of  beautiful  and  lively 
young  women  impressed  me  as  exceeding  anything 
that  could  be  looked  for  in  a  similar  gathering  upon 
the  mainland,  and  filled  me  with  regrets  that  we  were 
to  sail  at  daybreak  the  next  morning.  My  journal 
relates  how  I  was  expressing  my  feelings  in  this  par- 


THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET.       183 

ticular  to  a  bright  bevy  of  these  girls,  when  Heze- 
kiali  Barnard  suddenly  joined  our  group  and  put  in 
this  remark :  "  Friend,  if  thou  really  wishest  to  tarry 
on  our  island,  thou  hast  only  to  persuade  one  of  these 
young  women  to  put  a  black  cat  under  a  tub,  and 
surely  there  will  be  a  head  wind  to-morrow."  This 
sailors'  superstition,  of  which  I  had  never  heard,  was 
the  cause  of  much  pleasantry.  The  ladies  united  in 
declaring  that  there  was  not  a  black  cat  in  all  Nan- 
tucket,  they  having  been  smothered  under  tubs,  to 
retain  husbands  and  brothers  who  were  bound  for  the 
southern  seas.  At  last  Miss  Baxter  ("  the  prettiest 
girl  in  the  room,"  says  my  record)  confessed  to  the 
possession  of  a  black  kitten.  But,  then,  would  this 
do  ?  Surely,  a  very  heavy  and  mature  pussy,  per 
haps  even  two  of  them,  would  be  required  to  keep  a 
governor  against  his  will.  Yes  ;  but  then  an  aide-de 
camp  could  certainly  be  kept  by  a  kitten,  even  if  it 
were  not  weaned,  and  Miss  Baxter  had  only  to  dis 
miss  the  Governor  from  her  thoughts  and  concentrate 
them  upon  his  humble  attendant,  and  the  charm 
would  work.  I  do  not  know  whether  young  people 
talk  in  this  way  now,  or  whether  they  are  as  glad  as 
Miss  Baxter  and  I  were  to  find  some  topic  other  than 
the  weather  to  ring  our  simple  changes  on;  but  I 
should  refrain  from  personal  episodes  in  this  histori 
cal  epic,  which  deals  with  the  august  movements  of 
the  Governor.  It  is  well  for  us  chroniclers  to  re 
member  that  the  ego  d  rex  meus  way  of  telling  things 
once  got  poor  Cardinal  Wolsey  into  a  good  deal  of 
difficulty. 


184  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

"  Wind  dead  ahead  !  "  were  the  words  with  which 
Mr.  Burnell  called  me,  the  next  morning.  "  The  Gov 
ernor  must  spend  Sunday  on  the  island,  and  we  will 
show  him  a  Quaker  meeting  and  Micajah  Coffin." 
An  account  of  both  these  objects  of  interest  finds  its 
place  in  my  journal.  At  the  Friends'  Society  we  sat 
for  nearly  an  hour  in  absolute  silence,  and  this  seemed 
to  me  very  favorable  to  reflection  and  devotional  feel 
ing.  There  was  something  in  the  absence  of  any 
human  expression  in  the  awful  presence  of  the  Maker 
which  struck  me  as  a  more  fitting  homage  than  any 
words  or  ceremony  could  convey.  It  was  only  when 
two  women  felt  themselves  moved  by  the  Spirit  to 
address  the  assembly  that  my  feelings  underwent  a 
quick  revulsion,  and  1  acknowledged  that,  for  the 
majority  of  Christians  at  least,  a  trained  and  learned 
clergy  would  long  be  indispensable.  After  meeting, 
the  Governor  and  his  staff  paid  a  visit  of  ceremony 
to  Micajah  Coffin,  the  oldest  and  most  respected  citi 
zen  of  the  island.  £k  a  time  when  the  rulings  of 
etiquette  were  far  more  stringent  than  at  present,  it 
was  doubted  whether  the  representative  of  a  sover 
eign  state  could  properly  call  upon  a  private  person 
who  had  not  first  waited  upon  him.  Lincoln's  de 
cision  that  this  case  should  be  an  exception  to  all 
general  rules  was  no  less  creditable  to  the  magistrate 
than  gratifying  to  the  islanders ;  for  good  Friend 
Coffin,  then  past  ninety,  was  at  times  unable  to  com 
mand  his  memory,  and  his  friends  had  not  thought  it 
right  to  subject  him  to  the  excitements  of  the  recep 
tion  at  the  Insurance  Office.  For  twenty- two  years 


THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET.       185 

this  venerable  man  had  represented  Nantucket  in  the 
Massachusetts  General  Court.  In  his  youth  he  had 
worked  at  carpentering  and  gone  whaling  in  a  sloop, 

brinoln^  home  on  one  occasion  two  hundred  barrels 

, 

of  sperm  oil,  which  made  his  owner  a  rich  man. 
These  latter  particulars  I  learn  from  Mr.  William  C. 
Folger,  of  Nantucket,  who  remembers  Mr.  Coffin  as 
"  a  tall  old  gentleman,  dressed  in  the  style  of  a  past 
age."  And  one  thing  more  Mr.  Folger  mentions, 
of  which  the  significance  will  presently  appear: 
"  Benjamin  Coffin,  the  father  of  Micajah,  was  one  of 
Nantucket's  best  schoolmasters  for  about  half  a  cen 
tury."  I  had  been  looking  in  vain  through  college 
catalogues  to  explain  a  singular  circumstance  which 
my  journal  relates ;  but  the  appearance  of  Benjamin 
Coffin  the  schoolmaster  suggests  the  true  solution  of 
the  difficulty.  When  this  patriarch  of  Nantucket  was 
presented  to  the  Governor,  it  made  so  little  impres 
sion  upon  him  that  he  instantly  forgot  the  presence 
of  the  chief  magistrate  ;  and  yet  a  moment  afterward 
he  astonished  us  with  one  of  those  strange  feats  of 
memory  which  show  with  how  tight  a  grip  the  mys 
terious  nerve-centres,  of  which  we  hear  so  much,  hold 
what  has  been  committed  to  them.  For,  having  a 
dim  consciousness  that  something  out  of  the  common 
was  expected  from  him,  the  venerable  man  turned 
suddenly  upon  Postmaster  Hill,  and  proceeded  to 
harangue  that  very  modest  gentleman  in  a  set  Latin 
speech.  It  was  one  of  those  occurrences  which  might 
appear  either  sad  or  droll  to  the  bystanders,  and  I 
hope  it  does  not  reflect  upon  the  good  feelings  of  the 


186  FIGURES    OF   THE    PAST. 

party  to  mention  that  we  found  its  comic  aspect  quite 
irresistible.  There  was  poor  Mr.  Hill,  overcome  with 
mortification  at  being  mistaken  for  the  Governor,  and 
shrinking  from  fine  Latin  superlatives,  which,  under 
this  erroneous  impression,  were  discharged  upon  him. 
And  when  the  Postmaster,  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
address,  felt  that  he  was  bound  in  courtesy  to  make 
some  response  (which,  of  course,  could  not  be  in  the 
vernacular),  and  could  hit  upon  nothing  better  than 
"  Oui,  Monsieur,  je  vous  remcrcie"  the  climax  was 
reached,  and  even  the  Governor  was  forced  to  give 
audible  expression  to  his  sense  of  the  ridiculous. 
And  thus  it  was  that  testimony  was  given  to  the 
good  instruction  of  Master  Benjamin  Coffin.  The 
father  had  undoubtedly  taught  his  son  Latin  as  a 
spoken  language,  as  the  custom  formerly  was.  The 
lessons  were  given  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  here  am  I,  in  the  concluding  fifth  of  the 
nineteenth,  able  to  testify  to  the  thoroughness  of  the 
teaching. 

Micajah  Coffin  lived  for  little  more  than  a  year 
after  the  visit  of  Lincoln.  "In  his  old  age,"  says 
Mr.  Folger,  "he  took  an  interest  in  visiting  the  sick 
and  aiding  them  in  procuring  native  plants  suited  to 
cure  or  at  least  to  relieve  their  various  maladies." 
I  learn,  also,  that  in  his  rambles  about  Nantucket, 
when  he  met  a  face  that  was  unknown  to  him,  he 
was  accustomed  to  stop  and  give  this  challenge  : 
"  Friend,  my  name  is  Micajah  Coffin.  What  is 
thine  ? "  It  was  the  robust  assertion  of  a  personality 
of  which  there  was  no  reason  to  be  ashamed,  and 


THE  GOVERNOR  AT  NANTUCKET.        187 

testifies  to  the  reasonableness  of  the  high  esteem  in 
which  his  character  and  services  were  held  among 
his  fellow-islanders. 

Early  Monday  morning  we  left  Nantucket  with  a 
breeze  which  carried  us  to  New  Bedford  in  six  hours. 
The  Governor's  reception  in  that  town,  the  courtesy 
of  the  selectmen,  the  magnificent  hospitalities  of  the 
Botches  and  Bod  mans,  my  space  compels  me  to  omit. 
One  word,  however,  of  the  picture  presented  by  the 
venerable  William  Botch,  ninety-three  years  of  age, 
standing  between  his  son  and  his  grandson,  the  elder 
gentlemen  being  in  their  Quaker  dresses  and  the 
youngest  in  the  fashionable  costume  of  the  day. 
"  You  will  never  see  a  more  ideal  representation  of 
extreme  age,  middle  life,  and  vigorous  maturity  than 
is  given  by  these  three  handsome  and  intelligent 
men,"  said  Governor  Lincoln  to  me,  as  we  left  the 
house.  Up  to  this  date,  at  least,  his  prediction  has 
been  verified. 


A  JOURNEY  WITH  JUDGE  STORY. 


TN  the  beginning  of  the  year  1826,  Judge  Story  in- 
*-  vited  me  to  accompany  him  to  Washington, 
whither  he  was  going  to  discharge  his  duties  upon 
the  Supreme  Bench.  My  acquaintance  with  this  dis 
tinguished  man  began  when,  as  an  undergraduate,  I 
dined  with  him  in  Salem,  during  a  visit  to  that  town. 
As  a  boy  I  was  fascinated  by  the  brilliancy  of  his 
conversation,  and  now  that  I  was  at  the  base  of  the 
profession  which  he  adorned  I  regarded  him  with 
peculiar  reverence.  I  remember  my  father's  graphic 
account  of  the  rage  of  the  Federalists  when  "Joe 
Story,  that  country  pettifogger,  aged  thirty-two,"  was 
made  a  judge  of  our  highest  court.  He  was  a  bitter 
Democrat  in  those  days,  and  had  written  a  Fourth  of 
July  oration  which  was  as  a  red  rag  to  the  Federal 
bull.  It  was  understood  that  years  and  responsibili 
ties  had  greatly  modified  his  opinions,  and  I  happened 
to  be  present  upon  an  occasion  when  the  Judge  al 
luded  to  this  early  production  in  a  characteristic  way. 
We  were  dining  at  Professor  Ticknor's,  and  Mr.  Web 
ster  was  of  the  party.  In  a  pause  of  the  conversa 
tion,  Story  broke  out :  "  I  was  looking  over  some  old 
papers  this  morning,  and  found  my  Fourth  of  July 


A   JOURNEY   WITH    JUDGE    STORY.  189 

oration.  So  I  read  it  through  from  beginning  to 
end."  , 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Webster,  in  his  deep  and  im 
pressive  bass, "  now  tell  us  honestly  what  you  thought 
of  it." 

"  I  thought  the  text  very  pretty,  sir,"  replied  the 
Judge  ;  "  but  I  looked  in  vain  for  the  notes.  No  au 
thorities  were  stated  in  the  margin" 

The  invitation  to  go  to  Washington  with  Judge 
Story  did  not  imply  any  promise  of  attention  after  we 
arrived  in  that  city,  as  he  was  careful  to  point  out 
when  I  received  it.  "  The  fact  is,"  said  he,  "  I  can  do 
very  little  for  you  there,  as  we  judges  take  no  part  in 
the  society  of  the  place.  We  dine  once  a  year  with 
the  President,  and  that  is  all.  On  other  days  we  take 
our  dinner  together,  and  discuss  at  table  the  ques 
tions  which  are  argued  before  us.  We  are  great 
ascetics,  and  even  deny  ourselves  wine,  except  in  wet 
weather."  Here  the  Judge  paused,  as  if  thinking  that 
the  act  of  mortification  he  had  mentioned  placed  too 
severe  a  tax  upon  human  credulity,  and  presently 
added :  "  Wbat  I  say  about  the  wine,  sir,  gives  you 
our  rule  ;  but  it  does  sometimes  happen  that  the  Chief 
Justice  will  say  to  me,  when  the  cloth  is  removed, 
1  Brother  Story,  step  to  the  window  and  see  if  it  does 
not  look  like  rain.'  And  if  I  tell  him  that  the  sun  is 
shining  brightly,  Judge  Marshall  will  sometimes  re 
ply,  '  All  the  better ;  for  our  jurisdiction  extends 
over  so  large  a  territory  that  the  doctrine  of  chances 
makes  it  certain  that  it  must  be  raining  somewhere.' 
You  know  that  the  Chief  was  brought  up  upon  Fed- 


190  F1GUKES  OF  THE  PAST. 

eralism  and  Madeira,  and  he  is  not  the  man  to  out 
grow  his  early  prejudices." 

Before  I  begin  my  journey  with  Judge   Story,  I 
have  been  asked  to  say  a  word  of  my  previous  travels. 
I   had    visited   Washington  in    1807,   accompanying 
my  father,  who  was  a  member  of  Congress.     I  well 
remember  the  intolerable  roads,  and  the  flat-bottomed 
boats  in  which  we  crossed  the  Hudson  and  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  and  that,  on  returning,  we  took  a  sloop 
between  New  York  and  Providence.     No  wonder  that 
the  statesmen  of  that  day  foretold  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union,  from  the  vast  extent  of  territory  it  occu 
pied,  and  the  consequent  time  and  expense  involved 
in   assembling  representatives.     They   thought   they 
had  all  the  data  for  calculation,  and  that  it  required 
only  moderate  powers  of  reasoning  to  see  the  result. 
Let  us   take    heed  by  their  example   when  we    are 
tempted  to  characterize  as  Utopian  the  co-operative 
solution  of  the  difficulties  between  labor  and  capital 
by  which  we  are  at  present  beset.     The  dream  of  no 
enthusiast   can   appear   so    incredible   to    us   as  the 
prophecy  that,  within  a  life  then  existing,  a  represen 
tative  from  the  Pacific  Coast  might  reach  Washington 
with  far  less  fatigue  and  expense  than  was  incurred 
by  the  representative  from  Boston  would  have  seemed 
to  the  gentlemen  in  powdered  hair  and  pigtails  whom 
I  dimly  remember   in  Washington.     The  city  itself 
presented  a  forlorn    appearance.     Blocks    of   houses 
had  been   commenced ;  the  speculators   had   failed  ; 
and  unfinished  buildings,  without  doors  or  windows, 
were  in  every  street.     I  recall  all  this  very  distinctly, 


A   JOURN7EY   WITH   JUDGE    STORY.  191 

because  there  was  a  print  of  the  "  Kuins  of  Palmyra  " 
which  I  pointed  out  to  my  parents,  on  our  way  home, 
with  the  exclamation,  "Why,  there's  a  picture  of 
Washington  ! "  This  innocent  blunder  was  consid 
ered  a  most  felicitous  characterization  of  the  general 
appearance  of  the  city,  and  for  years  after  the  "  Kuins 
of  Palmyra  "  was  used  in  the  family  as  a  convenient 
synonym  for  the  capital  of  the  nation. 

Nineteen  years  after,  when  I  made  the  journey 
with  Judge  Story,  stages  ran  regularly  between  New 
York  and  Boston.  They  left  the  latter  city  at  three 
in  the  morning,  and  at  two  o'clock  a  man  was 
sent  round  to  the  houses  of  those  who  were  booked 
for  a  passage.  His  instructions  were  to  knock,  pull 
the  bell,  shout,  and  disturb  the  neighborhood  as  much 
as  possible,  in  order  that  the  person  who  was  to  take 
the  stage  might  be  up  and  dressed  when  it  reached 
his  door.  Light  sleepers  in  the  vicinity  were  made 
painfully  aware  when  the  stage  was  expected,  and  were 
often  afflicted  with  an  hour  of  uneasy  consciousness, 
till  it  had  rumbled  through  the  street  and  taken  up 
its  passenger.  In  the  mean  time  the  inmates  of  the 
stage  waited  through  the  dreary  hours  preceding  day 
break,  till  they  could  see  the  faces  of  their  fellow- 
travellers  and  commence  that  intimate  acquaintance 
with  them  which  a  ride  of  some  days  seldom  failed 
to  effect.  People  who  never  talked  anywhere  else 
were  driven  to  talk  in  those  old  coaches ;  while  a 
ready  conversationalist,  like  Judge  Story,  was  stimu 
lated  to  incessant  cerebral  discharges.  When  the  sun 
at  length  revealed  our  fellow-passengers,  they  turned 


192  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

out  to  be  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCobb,  from  Maine,  who 
were  escorting  to  Washington  the  Misses  Cleaves, 
two  young  ladies  who,  as  we  were  privately  informed, 
were  heiresses,  and  were  to  make  their  debut  in  the 
society  of  the  capital. 

Besides  these,  there  was  Mr.  John  Knapp,  brother- 
in-law  to  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  of  Massachusetts.  He 
was  a  lawyer,  somewhat  diminutive  in  stature,  who 
was  on  his  way  to  Washington  to  argue  before  the 
Supreme  Court.  He  was  fully  awake  to  the  good 
fortune  which  gave  him  one  of  the  judges  as  a  fel 
low-traveller,  and  succeeded  in  making  an  agreeable 
impression  upon  us  all.  My  journal  mentions  a  very 
funny  account  he  gave  of  an  employment  which,  in 
his  earlier  days,  he  had  combined  with  that  of  legal 
adviser.  He  was  held  by  his  neighbors  to  possess  a 
very  pretty  talent  for  composition,  and  it  came  to 
pass  that  he  was  constantly  called  upon  to  write  love- 
letters  of  the  most  confidential  and  tender  character. 
He  had  thought  of  establishing  rates  of  charges  to 
correspond  with  the  fire  and  pathos  that  was  required 
in  these  productions,  and  might  have  created  a  per 
manent  business,  had  the  noble  profession  of  the  law 
failed  to  support  him.  "  But  the  worst  of  it  is,"  said 
Mr.  Knapp,  glancing  at  the  young  ladies,  "I  have 
glowed  with  such  fervors  on  behalf  of  other  people 
that  I  seem  to  have  lost  the  capacity  of  feeling  on 
my  own  account,  and,  consequently,  have  remained  a 
wretched  bachelor  to  this  day."  Lest  we  might  con 
sider  his  success  limited  to  amatory  literature,  Mr. 
Knapp  went  on  to  tell  us  of  a  sea-captain  of  his 


A  JOURNEY  WITH   JUDGE   STORY.  193 

acquaintance  who  engaged  him  to  write  his  epitaph. 
"This  was,  to  be  sure,  somewhat  out  of  my  line," 
said  the  little  lawyer,  "  and  I  might  have  failed  with 
out  discredit ;  but  the  fact  was,  I  gave  my  employer 
such  satisfaction  that  he  actually  had  my  epitaph  cut 
upon  a  gravestone,  and  enjoined  it  upon  his  executors 
to  add  nothing  but  the  date  when  the  time  came  to 
set  it  up." 

Judge  Story  was  one  of  the  great  talkers  at  a  period 
when  conversation  was  considered  a  sort  of  second 
profession.     At  dinners,  when  the  time  was  limited 
and  other  distinguished  men  were  present,  he  some 
times  talked  too  much;  but  in  the  coach  he  could  not 
pour  himself  out  too  abundantly  for  the  pleasure  of  his 
listeners.     He  had  spent  part  of  the  previous  summer 
in  travelling  with  Daniel  Webster,  and  had  added  a 
fresh  stock  of  observation  arid  anecdote  to  his  abun 
dant  repertoire.     There  was   only  one   thing  he   did 
not  talk  about,  and  that  was  law.     As  the  expressive 
phrase  goes,  he  "sunk  the  shop;"  though  this  same 
"shop"  would  have  been  a  subject  most  interesting 
to  at  least  two  of  his  companions.     A  person  who 
did  not  know  Judge  Story  might  have  taken  him  for 
one  of  those  agreeable  individuals  who  are  so  well  in 
formed  in  all  departments  that  they  can  be  great  in 
none.     If  required  to  find  the  most  learned  jurist  of 
the  age  in  that   coach,  such  a  person   would   have 
pitched  upon  Mr.  McCobb  or  Mr.  Knapp.     Certainly, 
this  courteous  gentleman,  all  whose  reading  seemed 
to  be  poetry  and  belles-lettres,  could  not  be  the  man. 
It  was  sarcastically  said  of  Lord  Brougham,  when  he 


194  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

was  Chancellor  of  England,  that,  if  he  only  knew  a 
little  law,  he  would  know  a  little  of  everything.     But 
this  bitter  saying  was  nothing  but  an  inversion  of 
the  tribute  Judge  Parsons  received  from  John  Lowell, 
who  declared  that  Parsons  knew  more  law  than  any 
body  else,  and  more  of  everything  else  than  he  did 
of  law.     The  compliment  is  so  neat  that  we  forgive 
its  extravagance ;  but  it  is  certainly  as  applicable  to 
Story  as  to  the  elder  jurist.     I  can  give  no  better  idea 
of  the  intimate  relations  developed  in  the  old  stage 
coach  than  by  mentioning  that  before  night  the  Judge 
was  favoring  us  with  recitations  of  original  poetry. 
They  were  not  brief  selections  either,  and  were  rolled 
off  with  evident  confidence  in  their  excellence.     Sub 
sequently,  Judge  Story  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  Muses  were  not  favorable  to  his  invocations,  and 
actually  bought  up  and  burned  all  attainable  copies 
of  a  poem  called  the  "  Power  of  Solitude,"  which  he 
once  committed   to  the  press.     But  a  conviction  of 
sin  in  this  particular  had  not  yet  reached  our  learned 
companion.     He  found  occasion  to  quote  Pope's  lam 
entation,  "  How  sweet  an  Ovid  was  in  Murray  lost ! " 
and  evidently  thought  that  the  stanza  might  find  an 
American  application.     Cicero,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
and  other  great  men  never  quite  accepted  the  fact 
that   their   abilities  and  application   gave   them    no 
foothold  upon  Parnassus ;  and  if  Judge  Story  was  at 
one  time  not  free  from  the  delusion  which  afflicted 
these  his  distinguished  peers,  he  was  at   least  mis 
taken   in   good    company.      He   had    the   knack   of 
rhyming  with  ease,  and  it  was  said   that  he  would 


A  JOURNEY  WITH   JUDGE   STORY.  195 

sometimes  beguile  the  hours  of  tedious  argument  to 
which  he  was  compelled  to  listen  by  making  his  notes 
in  verse. 

As  we  jogged  on,  the  conversation  fell  upon  novels, 
and,  this  being  a  subject  we  could  all  talk  about,  it 
remained   there  for  a  good  many  miles.     After  the 
tribute  to  the  powers  of  Scott,  which  was  a  matter  of 
course,  Judge  Story  spoke  of  Mrs.  Badcliffe  in  terms 
of  great  admiration,  and  wished  she  could  have  had 
some  of  the  weird  legends  of  Marblehead  upon  which 
to  display  her  wealth  of  lurid  imagery.     Miss  Bur- 
ney's  "Evelina"  he  thought  very  bright  and   fasci 
nating,  while  the  conversations  of  Maria  Edgeworth 
were  Nature  itself,  and  yet  full  of  point  —  the  duller 
speeches  of  her  characters  being  simply  omitted,  as 
was  proper  in  a  work  of  art.     On  a  subsequent  occa 
sion,  I  heard  him  place  Jane  Austen    much   above 
these  writers,  and  compliment  her  with  a  panegyric 
quite  equal  to  those  bestowed  by  Scott  and  Macaulay. 
"  It  is  only  the  nature  of  their  education,"  said  the 
Judge,  "which   puts  women   at   such   disadvantages 
and  keeps  up  the  notion  that  they  are  our  inferiors  in 
ability.     What  would  a  man  be  without  his  profes 
sion  or  business,  which  compels  him  to  learn  some 
thing  new  every  day  ?  The  best  sources  of  knowledge 
are  shut  off  from  women,  and  the  surprise  is  that 
they  manage  to  keep  so  nearly  abreast  with  us  as 
they  do."     I  think  that   I  am   safe  in  saying   that 
Judge  Story  was  alone  among  the  prominent  men  of 
that  day  in  the  adoption  of  views  respecting  women 
very  similar  to  those  afterward  proclaimed   by  Mr. 


196  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

Mill.  He  would  not  admit  that  sex  or  temperament 
assigned  them  an  inferior  part  in  the  intellectual  de 
velopment  of  the  race.  It  was  all  a  matter  of  train 
ing.  Give  them  opportunities  of  physical  and  mental 
education  equal  to  those  enjoyed  by  men,  and  there 
was  nothing  to  disqualify  them  from  attaining  an 
equal  success  in  any  field  of  mental  effort.  Whether 
his  views  were  drawn  from  reliable  data  and  have 
been  sustained  by  subsequent  experience  are  ques 
tions  upon  which  a  writer  of  reminiscences  need  not 
enter ;  but  it  seems  due  to  all  parties  to  say  that 
many  of  the  theoretical  opinions  published  by  Mr. 
Mill  were  anticipated  by  Joseph  Story. 

The  first  night  of  our  journey  was  spent  at  Ash  ford, 
in  Connecticut,  where  we  arrived  late  in  the  evening ; 
and  here  the  bother  of  the  wild-cat  currency,  as  it 
was  afterward  called,  was  forced  upon  our  attention. 
The  bills  of  local  banks  would  not  circulate  beyond 
the  town  in  which  they  were  issued,  and  when  Judge 
Story,  who  had  neglected  to  provide  himself  with 
United  States  notes,  offered  the  landlord  a  Salem  bill, 
in  payment  for  his  supper,  the  man  stared  at  it  as  if 
it  had  been  the  wampum  of  the  Indians  or  the  shell- 
money  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders.  "This  is  not 
good,"  said  the  host, "  and  I  think  you  must  know  it," 
"I  know  it  is  good,"  retorted  the  Judge,  testily  ;  "and 
I'll  tell  you  how  I  know  it.  I  made  it  myself!'  This 
reply,  of  which  the  landlord  could  make  nothing, 
unless  it  were  the  confession  of  a  forger,  did  not 
mend  matters ;  and  it  was  fortunate  that  I  had  pro 
vided  myself  with  some  national  notes,  which  ended 


A   JOURNEY    WITH  JUDGE   STORY.  197 

the  difficulty.  The  explanation  may  have  been  that 
Judge  Story,  as  president  of  some  Salem  bank,  had 
signed  the  bill  in  question,  though  I  have  not  at  hand 
the  means  of  verifying  the  fact  that  he  held  such  an 
office.  Our  present,  system  of  currency,  which  makes 
the  bills  of  petty  banks  good  throughout  the  nation, 
and  indeed  in  all  civilized  countries,  is  a  blessing 
which  the  present  generation  cannot  fully  appreciate. 

Another  day,  and  we  reached  New  Haven,  where 
we  passed  the  night.  The  early  hours  of  Sunday 
that  we  were  allowed  in  this  city  I  spent  in  visiting 
the  churches,  in  attendance  upon  the  Misses  Cleaves, 
"  who,  being  fresh  from  boarding-school "  (so  says  my 
journal),  "are  somewhat  romantic."  May  it  chance 
that  either  of  these  fair  young  creatures  (for  so  they 
must  be  to  me)  are  yet  living  ?  May  it  happen  that 
either  of  them  survives  to  read  this  narrative  of  our 
journey  with  the  great  Judge  ?  We.re  they  also  keep 
ing  journals  ?  It  is  just  possible  that  the  publication 
of  this  paper  may  bring  me  some  news  of  their  lives 
during  the  fifty-four  years  since  we  parted  company.1 

1  It  resulted  in  a  correspondence  with  the  venerable  Mrs.  A.  C. 
Duminer  of  Hallowell,  Maine,  the  survivor  of  the  sisters  men 
tioned  in  the  text.  "Little  did  I  think,"  wrote  this  lady,  "  that, 
when  taking  the  journey  alluded  to,  which  was  the  first  great  event 
of  my  life,  *  being  fresh  from  boarding-school  and  somewhat  roman 
tic,'  I  should  be  reminded  of  it  after  a  period  of  fifty-four  years  by 
one  of  the  party  who  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  the  friendly  inter 
course,  the  pleasure,  and  instruction  derived  from  the  unlimited 
fund  of  conversation  and  knowledge  possessed  by  Judge  Story. 
During  the  long  course  of  years  since  that  time,  each  member  of 
that  stage-coach  party  has  been  held  in  pleasant  remembrance." 


198  FIGUEES   OF   THE   PAST. 

Leaving  New  Haven  at  ten  in  the  morning,  we 
reached  Stamford  about  dark.  The  day  following  we 
drove  into  the  great  city  in  time  for  a  late  dinner.  It 
seemed  quite  incredible  !  We  had  left  Boston  early 
Friday  morning,  had  driven  all  the  way,  and  here  we 
were,  Monday  evening,  actually  dining  in  New  York. 
It  need  not  be  said  that  we  congratulated  ourselves 
upon  living  in  the  days  of  rapid  communication,  and 
looked  with  commiseration  upon  the  condition  of  our 
fathers,  who  were  wont  to  consume  a  whole  week  in 
travelling  between  the  cities. 


FEOM  NEW   YORK  TO  WASHINGTON. 


WHEN  Judge  Story  and  his  companion  reached 
their  lodgings  at  Mrs.  Frazier's  boarding- 
house,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  30th  of  January,  1826, 
they  were  met  by  a  solemn  announcement.  New 
York  had  succumbed  to  the  influenza.  Everybody 
had  been,  was,  or  was  going  to  be  sick  with  it.  This 
mysterious  disorder,  travelling  in  the  path  of  the 
Asiatic  cholera,  was  now  making  the  tour  of  America, 
some  parts  of  which  it  visited  with  great  severity. 
It  was  known  as  "  the  winter  epidemic "  in  Phila 
delphia,  and  in  the  South,  where  it  was  very  fatal 
among  the  negro  population,  as  "  the  cold  plague." 
The  simple  faith  in  the  power  of  medicine  was  in 
those  days  quite  touching,  and  for  the  question  "  What 
ought  I  to  do  ? "  which  sensible  persons  now  ask  when 
disorder  threatens  the  body,  there  was  substituted  the 
inquiry  "  What  ought  I  to  take  ? "  The  answers 
came  thick  and  fast,  and  here  are  a  few  of  them. 
Take  linseed  and  licorice,  also  barley  water,  also  a 
mixture  of  vinegar  and  sugar  candy,  also  wine  of 
antimony,  then  try  senna,  and,  above  all  things,  prac 
tise  no  short-sighted  economy  in  the  matter  of  blue 
pills.  I  declined  to  fortify  my  system  with  any  of 


200  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

these  admirable  doses,  for  it  was  evident  to  me  that 
everybody  was  not  sick,  after  all.  There  was  Cooper, 
for  instance,  —  "  Cooper,  the  noblest  Eoman  of  them 
all,"  as  Charles  Spragtie  called  him  in  his  Phi  Beta 
poem  upon  Curiosity,  —  he,  at  least,  had  no  influenza, 
for  the  bills  announced  that  he  was  to  play  one  of 
his  best  Shakespearian  parts,  Mark  Antony  in  "  Julius 
Caesar,"  that  very  night.  Arid,  for  further  assurance, 
no  sooner  had  we  seated  ourselves  at  Mrs.  Frazier's 
dining-table  than  Cooper  himself  stalked  into  the 
room  and  took  a  place  in  our  neighborhood.  He  was 
a  fine-looking  man  of  about  fifty,  and  we  found  his 
conversation  to  be  that  of  an  educated  gentleman,  with 
just  that  dash  of  easy  Bohemianism  which  young 
people  find  attractive.  Americans  can  never  feel 
about  any  other  actor  as  we  once  felt  about  Cooper, 
who  came  to  our  shores  in  the  last  century  and 
had  created  our  conceptions  of  the  greater  characters 
in  the  Shakespearian  drama,  I  have  before  me  some 
letters  written  from  Boston,  in  1807,  which  testify  to 
the  fascinations  of  Cooper's  acting  at  that  date.  They 
mention  that  the  fashionable  circles  of  the  town  could 
make  nothing  of  Hamlet  until  Cooper  came  to  show 
them  what  Shakespeare  meant  by  that  mysterious 
personage.  About  the  time  I  met  him  in  New  York 
lie  was  much  admired  in  Borneo  (Miss  Kelly  being 
the  Juliet),  a  part  which  he  played  much  better  than 
when  he  was  a  young  man.  And  so  theatre-goers 
matched  a  saying  of  Edmund  Kean's,  that  only  a 
young  man  could  play  King  Lear,  by  declaring  that 
it  required  an  old  one  to  give  the  best  representation 
of  the  boy -lover  of  Verona. 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO  WASHINGTON.      201 

After  dinner,  I  repaired  to  my  uncle's  house  on 
the  Battery,  then  the  ornament  of  New  York  and 
surrounded  by  the  wealth  and  fashion  of  the  city. 
Everybody  there  was  down  with  the  influenza;  but 
one  of  my  cousins,  less  afflicted  than  the  rest,  insisted 
upon  getting  up  to  go  with  me  to  Mrs.  Hamilton 
Holley's  splendid  ball,  which  it  would  never  do  for  a 
stranger  to  miss.  And  a  splendid  ball  it  was  !  —  or 
was  meant  to  be.  Handsome  rooms,  a  fine  band  of 
music,  and  a  good  supper.  There  was  but  one  draw 
back, —  there  were  no  guests.  Six  ladies,  says  my 
journal,  and  a  few  more  gentlemen  were  the  only 
influenzaless  persons  in  the  polite  society  of  New 
York;  and  one  of  these  six  ladies  was  from  Phila 
delphia.  This  was  Miss  Anna  Gillespie ;  and  much 
amusement  we  had  together  over  this  ball,  which  was 
no  ball,  in  the  arrogant  metropolis.  We  had  been 
brought  by  our  respective  friends  as  humble  provin 
cials  to  gaze  upon  social  glories  we  could  never  emu 
late,  and  much  innocent  fun  was  the  result.  A  trifling 
bond  of  union  like  this  will  put  young  people  on 
easy  terms  for  an  evening,  and  when  I  left  Mrs. 
Holley's  ball,  at  one  in  the  morning,  it  was  with  the 
feeling  that  for  me,  at  least,  the  influenza  had  not 
despoiled  it  of  agreeable  incidents. 

Of  our  journey  to  Philadelphia  I  copy  from  my 
journal  this  brief  notice :  — 

"  February  1,  1826.  —  We  left  our  lodgings  at  five 
o'clock  this  morning,  and,  after  waiting  an  hour  for 
the  ferry-boat,  crossed  to  Powles  Hook,  breaking  the 
ice  all  the  way.  Our  party  consisted  of  Judge  Story, 


202  FIGURES  OF  THE  PAST. 

Judge  Thompson  (who  talked  incessantly  about  plead 
ing),  a  navy  officer,  and  three  ladies  of  uncertain 
reputation,  with  whom  the  said  navy  officer  held  high 
converse  all  the  way.  We  had  an  opposition  stage 
at  our  heels,  and  consequently  drove  very  rapidly ; 
but  our  detention  at  the  ferry  was  so  great  that  it 
was  between  eleven  and  twelve  before  we  put  up  at 
the  Mansion  House." 

The  next  day  I  saw  something  of  Philadelphia,  and 
in  the  evening  three  acts  of  Kean's  Hamlet,  which  I 
left,  with  great  reluctance,  to  attend  a  supper-party 
at  Mr.  Nathaniel  Amory's,  "where  I  found  every 
thing  in  the  Boston  style,  and  could  hardly  believe, 
when  I  saw  the  jolly  face  of  my  host,  that  we  were 
both  so  far  from  the  land  of  our  fathers.  Here  I  met 
Messrs.  Vaughan,  Hopkinson,  Meredith,  with  other 
notables  of  the  city."  On  returning  to  the  Mansion 
House,  late  in  the  evening,  I  found  Judge  Story  pros 
trated  with  the  influenza,  and,  of  course,  unable  to 
continue  our  journey  to  Washington.  He  begged 
me  to  abandon  him  to  his  fate,  and  to  leave  the  next 
day,  as  we  had  intended.  This  I  refused  to  do,  as 
we  were  travelling  companions  for  better  or  for 
worse,  and  it  was  clearly  my  duty  to  remain  arid 
take  care  of  him.  A  delightful  week  in  Philadelphia 
rewarded  me  for  this  consideration.  As  soon  as  the 
Judge  was  convalescent  the  great  lawyers  and  mighty 
men  of  the  city  thronged  to  call  upon  him,  and  most 
interesting  discussions  went  on  in  the  sick-chamber. 
Of  these  I  regret  to  say  I  made  no  notes,  although 
my  journal  implies  that  the  talk  of  those  eminent 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO  WASHINGTON.      203 

lawyers,  Sergeant  and  Binney,  would  have  been  well 
worth  reporting.  Both  of  these  men  I  heard  in  court 
during  my  visit.  Sergeant  was  dull  in  his  manner, 
giving  a  stranger  no  adequate  impression  of  the  depth 
and  force  of  reasoning  which  had  made  him  famous. 
His  rival,  Binney,  on  the  contrary,  had  all  the  quali 
ties  which  take  at  a  glance.  He  was  fine-looking 
and  exceedingly  graceful;  his  speaking  was  easy  and 
often  rose  into  eloquence.  The  men.  seemed  to  be 
pretty  nearly  abreast  in  the  estimation  of  the  bar. 

I  soon  had  another  distinguished  patient ;  no  less 
a  person  than  Henry  Wheaton,  at  that  time  reporter 
for  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  and  engaged  in 
the  preparation  of  those  twelve  volumes  of  decisions 
which  will  keep  his  name  greener  than  all  the  good 
diplomatic  work  he  afterward  performed.  He  arrived 
at  the  Mansion  House  terribly  afflicted  with  the  pre 
vailing  epidemic,  and,  at  the  recommendation  of 
Judge  Story,  who  was  now  getting  better,  put  himself 
under  my  care.  In  a  day  or  two  he  so  far  recovered 
as  to  be  no  small  addition  to  the  distinguished  circle 
which  held  its  sessions  in  the  Judge's  parlor.  ^  My 
journal  gives  some  notices  of  Philadelphia  society: 
of  a  dinner  at  General  Cadwallader's,  and  of  a  young 
man's  supper-party  at  the  house  of  Mr.  - 
the  latter  entertainment  the  entry  reads  thus:  "We 
met  about  eight ;  looked  over  caricatures  and  played 
cards  until  nine.  We  were  then  summoned  to  an 
elegant  supper,  about  twenty  of  the  first  young  men 
of  Philadelphia  being  the  guests.  They  were  not  in 
tellectual,  and  were  in  a  fair  way  to  be  drunk  when 


204  FIGURES  OF  THE   PAST. 

I  left  them  at  midnight."  Probably  nothing  better 
could  be  said  of  the  gilded  youths  of  New  York  or 
Boston  at  that  period  of  little  literature  and  much 
conviviality.  I  find  a  notice  of  an  evening  at  the 
theatre,  whither  I  was  taken  by  Mrs.  Cadwallader,  and 
where  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  see  women  admitted 
to  the  pit.  The  Beatrice  of  the  play — I  suppress  the 
name  of  the  actress,  as  she  has  long  been  past  criti 
cism  —  I  find  vulgar  and  coarse  ;  but  the  Do<jberry  of 
Jefferson  (grandfather  to  Rip  Van  Winkle)  was  a 
revelation  of  the  power  of  comic  acting.  It  was  mag 
nificent.  I  tell  how  I  stopped  to  laugh  over  it  on 
my  way  home.  I  could  not  get  rid  of  that  superb 
patronage  of  Goodman  Verges,  and  of  the  monstrous 
inflation  of  the  "rich  fellow  enough,  who  knew  the 
law  and  had  had  losses." 

On  Sunday  I  listened  to  preaching  from  Dr.  Aber- 
crombie,  at  St.  John's  Church,  and  heard  some  dis 
cussion  of  a  singular  ecclesiastical  privilege  which 
then  existed  in  Philadelphia.  This  was  the  right  to 
obstruct  the  streets  by  chains  during  the  hours  of 
divine  service.  There  were  petitions  going  about  for 
the  repeal  of  the  act  of  legislation  which  permitted 
proceedings  which  the  objectors  seemed  to  think 
worthy  of  the  imaginary  Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut. 
It  was  alleged  that  doctors  visiting  their  patients, 
and  other  travellers  upon  errands  of  mercy,  were  put 
to  sore  inconvenience  by  these  chains  across  the  high 
ways.  They  were,  moreover,  typical  of  that  fetter 
between  Church  and  State  which  the  Genius  of 
America  was  supposed  to  have  shattered.  To  all 


FROM   NEW   YORK   TO   WASHINGTON.  205 

which  it  was  answered  that  a  state  which  compelled 
no  one  to  attend  religious  exercises  must,  at  least, 
protect  from  annoyance  those  who  choose  to  do  so ; 
that  medical  men  and  the  very  few  lawful  travellers 
might  well  be  required  to  go  a  little  out  of  their  way 
for  the  good  of  large  classes  of  the  community ;  and 
that,  as  all  other  travellers  were  breaking  the  law  by 
being  out  at  all,  it  was  the  height  of  impudence  to  ask 
law-makers  to  consider  their  convenience  while  doing 
so.  How  the  dispute  was  settled  I  am  unable  to  say. 
It  seemed  to  me  one  of  those  cases  in  which  appear 
ances  which  excite  the  imagination  of  any  part  of  the 
community  should  have  been  avoided.  Philadelphia 
is  so  built  that  the  inconvenience  of  going  round  a 
block  or  two,  to  avoid  disturbing  worshippers,  must 
have  been  scarcely  appreciable ;  but  the  chains  did 
have  a  bad  look  about  them,  and  proper  police  regula 
tions  should  have  prevented  their  employment. 

On  Thursday,  the  ninth  day  of  February,  Judge 
Story  and  Mr.  Wheaton  were  pronounced  well  enough 
to  proceed  on  their  way  to  the  capital,  provided  they 
broke  the  journey  and  avoided  the  chill  and  exposure 
of  the  early  morning.  They  accordingly  left  Phila 
delphia  by  a  private  conveyance,  and  I  was  to  over 
take  them,  the  next  day,  by  the  more  fatiguing  but 
more  economical  transportation  of  the  regular  stage. 
As  the  brief  account  of  my  progress  toward  Washing 
ton  seems  to  require  no  abridgment,  the  contempo 
rary  record  shall  be  copied. 

"  February  10, 1826. — At  three  o'clock  this  morning 
the  light  of  a  candle  under  the  door  and  a  rousing 


206  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

knock  told  me  that  it  was  time  to  depart,  and  shortly 
after  I  left  Philadelphia  by  the  Lancaster  stage,  other 
wise  a  vast,  illimitable  wagon,  with  seats  without 
backs,  capable  of  holding  some  sixteen  passengers 
with  decent  comfort  to  themselves,  and  actually  en 
cumbered  with  some  dozen  more.  After  riding  till 
eight  o'clock,  we  reached  the  Breakfast  House,  where 
we  partook  of  a  good  meal  and  took  up  Messrs.  Story 
and  Wheaton.  We  then  proceeded  through  a  most 
beautiful  tract  of  country,  where  good  fences  and  huge 
stone  barns  proved  the  excellence  of  the  farming.  The 
road  seemed  actually  lined  with  Coriostoga  wagons, 
each  drawn  by  six  stalwart  horses  and  laden  with 
farm  produce.  At  Lancaster,  the  largest  inland  town 
in  the  United  States,  we  changed  stages  and  company. 
From  that  place  to  York  our  party  consisted  of  Lang- 
don  Clieves,  formerly  president  of  the  United  States 
Bank,  Mr.  Buchanan,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Henry,  another  member  from  Ken 
tucky,  Judge  Story,  Mr.  Wheaton,  and  myself.  I 
found  the  additions  rather  amusing  men,  and  we  rode 
together  till  some  time  after  dark,  when  we  reached 
York,  found  good  accommodations,  and  are  ready  to 
turn  in,  it  being  about  ten  o'clock. 

"February  11.  — After  being  detained  till  near  ten 
by  the  non-arrival  of  the  stage  from  Harrisburg,  we 
started  for  Baltimore,  and,  after  a  tedious  ride  through 
a  hilly  country  and  over  bad  roads,  we  reached  '  Bar- 
num's'  at  eleven  o'clock  to-night.  We  were  much 
fatigued  and  wanted  to  go  to  bed ;  but  Barnum,  who 
is  a  great  friend  of  Judge  Story,  and  knew  him  when 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO  WASHINGTON.      207 

he  (Barnum)  kept  the  Exchange  Coffee  House  in  Bos 
ton,  would  keep  us  up  for  canvas-backs  and  a  bottle 
of  capital  wine.  We  sat  talking  over  these  delicacies 
till  near  one  o'clock. 

"  February '12.- — We  left  Baltimore  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  and  reached  Washington  about  three 
in  the  afternoon.  At  the  recommendation  of  Mr. 
Cheves,  I  accompanied  him  to  Miss  Hyer's  on  Capi 
tol  Hill,  where  I  found  a  delightful  party  of  gentle 
men,  consisting  of  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  and  David 
B.  Ogden,  of  New  York  ;  Kufus  G.  Amory,  of  Boston  ; 
Captain  Stockton,  of  the  navy ;  Captain  Zantzinger, 
of  the  army ;  and,  last  and  least,  so  far  as  bodily  pres 
ence  goes,  my  old  travelling  companion,  Mr.  John 
Knapp.  I  suppose  it  was  only  because  he  had  re 
tained  Mr.  Emmet  that  he  dared  to  come  to  the  same 
table  with  Captain  Stockton,  the  defendant  in  the 
'  Marianna  Flora '  case,  whom  he  is  bound  to  make  out 
a  fierce  and  terrible  fellow  indeed.  I  called  this 
evening  upon  Mr.  Webster,  and  through  his  hands 
received  a  letter  from  home.  He  was  not  in  himself ; 
but  I  spent  a  pleasant  hour  with  Mrs.  Webster  and . 
Mrs.  Blake." 

I  had  come  to  Washington  at  an  interesting  time. 
John  Quincy  Adams,  perhaps  the  best-trained  execu 
tive  officer  this  country  has  ever  possessed,  occupied 
the  Presidential  chair.  Henry  Clay  was  Secretary  of 
State,  —  an  office  he  should  never  have  accepted,  as 
the  charge  of  corrupt  bargaining  with  the  man  whom 
he  had  made  President  was  sure  to  be  made.  Shortly 
after  the  inauguration,  had  been  heard  the  first  threat- 


208  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

"enings  of  the  conflict  which  thirty- four  years  later 
was  to  deluge  the  country  with  blood.  During  the 
previous  May,  Governor  Troup,  of  Georgia,  had  ad 
dressed  a  message  to  his  legislature  complaining  of 
"  officious  and  impertinent  intermeddlings  with  our 
domestic  concerns,"  and  closing  with  an  exhortation 
to  "  step  forth,  and,  having  exhausted  the  argument, 
to  stand  by  your  arms."  A  combination  of  brilliant, 
if  unscrupulous,  political  leaders,  about  which  a  new 
party  was  to  crystallize,  had  opened  its  batteries  upon 
the  administration  and  was  thundering  forth  the 
grossest  charges.  The  situation  must  be  remembered 
in  order  to  understand  such  notices  of  public  and 
social  life  at  Washington  as  my  journals  may  enable 
me  to  give. 


VISITS  TO  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 


T  WILL  begin  my  account  of  Washington  with 
A  some  notices  of  the  remarkable  man  whom  of  all 
others  I  most  desired  to  see.  This  was  John  Ran 
dolph,  a  good  friend  and  correspondent  of  my  father's, 
though  two  men  more  utterly  dissimilar  in  tempera 
ment  and  opinions  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  I  shall 
first  give  some  report  of  the  part  he  took  in  the  pri 
vate  conversations  to  which  I  was  admitted,  and 
afterward  describe  two  memorable  occasions  when  I 
heard  him  in  the  Senate. 

I  left  a  card  with  a  letter  from  my  father  at  "  Daw- 
son's,"  on  Capitol  Hill,  the  lodgings  of  Mr.  Randolph, 
soon  after  my  arrival.  With  great  promptness,  he 
sent  me  a  note,  in  which  he  alluded  to  the  trying 
political  scenes  through  which  he  had  passed  with 
my  father,  and  declared  the  "sentiments  of  great 
esteem  and  regard  "  which  he  cherished  toward  him. 
Describing  himself  as  "an  old  and  very  infirm  man," 
he  begged  me  to  waive  ceremony,  and  visit  him  either 
before  the  meeting  of  the  Senate  or  between  its  ad 
journment  and  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  which 
hour,  he  was  careful  to  mention,  was  his  bedtime. 
About  ten  the  next  morning  I  called  upon  Mr. 


210  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

Randolph,  and  was  admitted  to  his  bedchamber.  He 
was  sitting  in  flannel  dressing-gown  and  slippers,  look 
ing  very  thin,  but  with  a  strange  fire  in  his  swarthy 
face.  He  seemed  more  like  a  spiritual  presence  than 
a  man  adequately  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood.  His 
voice  was  high  but  very  agreeable,  having  nothing  of 
the  shrillness  which  I  heard  at  the  great  race,  and 
afterwards  in  debate.  He  received  me  with  great 
cordiality,  and  began  to  talk  of  his  friendship  for 
my  father,  and  of  the  kindness  he  had  done  him  in 
acting  as  guardian  for  his  nephew,  Tudor  Randolph, 
when  the  young  man  was  an  undergraduate  at  Cam 
bridge.  He  alluded  to  the  death  of  this  son  (for  so 
he  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  him)  with  deep  emo 
tion.  He  had  died  more  than  ten  years  before,  at 
Cheltenham,  in  England,  having  been  compelled  to 
leave  college  through  failing  health.  "  I  loved  him. 
He  was  my  heir,  sir;  he  was  the  last  of  the  Ran 
dolphs.  He  would  have  done  credit  to  a  name 
which  now  dies  with  me."  He  then  spoke  of  his 
visit  to  the  grave  of  his  nephew  in  England,  and  of 
his  disgust  at  a  monument  which  he  had  ordered  and 
paid  for.  "  Sir,  it  was  poor  and  inappropriate ;  but 
then  [in  a  tone  of  the  bitterest  grief]  they  never 
thought  I  should  see  it.  Ah !  they  never  thought  I 
should  see  it."  Abruptly  leaving  this  painful  sub 
ject,  Randolph  suddenly  inquired,  "Do  you  know 

Mrs. ,  of  Boston  ?  "      Scarcely  waiting  for  my 

affirmative  reply,  he  launched  forth  into  an  eulogium 
upon  this  lady,  contrasting  her  with  the  fashionable 
ladies  of  Washington,  toward  whom  he  was  by  no 


VISITS   TO   JOHN    RANDOLPH.  211 

means  complimentary.  He  enlarged  with  great  mi 
nuteness  upon  Mrs.  's  excellent  taste  in  dress, 

which  he  pronounced  the  elegance  of  perfect  sim 
plicity.  There  was  one  jewel  which  she  had  worn 
in  her  turban  (then  a  fashionable  feminine  head 
dress)  that  was  placed  with  consummate  skill,  and 
the  effect  was  dazzling.  He  had  found  her  conver 
sation  intellectual  and  full  of  point.  "What  a  con 
trast,"  he  said,  "  to  the  vapid  talk  of  the  fashionable 
society  at  Washington !  What  a  contrast  to  their 
tasteless  dresses,  bestuck  with  tawdry  ornaments ! " 
Eandolph  expressed  himself  admirably  and  with  much 
fervor ;  but  what  he  said  about  this  lady  I  can  com 
pare  only  to  the  rhapsody  of  a  lover. 

By  introducing  the  subject  of  England,  I  set  Mr. 
Randolph  off  upon  a  new  line  of  enthusiasm.  He 
never  felt  so  much  <at  home  as  when  there.  He  be 
longed  to  the  Church  of  England,  not  to  the  Protes 
tant  Episcopal  Church  of  America.  As  for  London, 
he  found  he  knew  it  better  from  study  of  the  map 
than  many  persons  who  were  its  citizens.  He  spoke 
of  Shakespeare  with  great  admiration,,  saying  that 
he  had  visited  many  places  only  because  this  poet 
had  chosen  to  immortalize  them.  Among  them  was 
Shrewsbury,  of  which  he  gave  a  graphic  account, 
quoting  largely  from  the  play  of  "  Henry  IV.,"  and, 
in  conclusion,  reciting  with  great  animation  the  fine 
description  of  the  arrival  of  the  news  "that  young 
Harry  Percy's  spur  was  cold."  He  spoke  of  modern 
poets,  and  of  the  genius  of  Byron,  whose  character 
he  detested.  "  Let  me  tell  you,  sir,  that  Don  Juan 


212  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

is  a  satire  on  the  weakness,  folly,  and  wickedness  of 
man  worthy  of  the  Prince  of  Darkness."  Soon  after 
this  climax  a  stout  gentleman,  about  seventy  years  of 
age,  came  in  to  accompany  him  to  the  Capitol,  and 
Eandolph  introduced  me  in  these  words  :  "  I  have 
pleasure  to  make  you  acquainted  with  the  ablest 
man  in  Washington,  Mr.  Macon,  of  North  Carolina." 
This  gentleman  was  much  admired  by  Eandolph,  who 
in  his  will  paid  him  the  still  higher  compliment  of 
being  "the  best  and  purest  and  wisest  man  that  I 
ever  knew."  The  fact  that  Macon  had  opposed  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  on  the  ground  that  it 
gave  too  much  power  to  the  General  Government, 
was  sufficient  to  endear  him  to  this  ardent  Virginian, 
who  was  always  protesting  against  its  aggressions. 

Before  I  visited  Mr.  Eandolph  again,  I  had  listened 
with  admiration  to  his  wonderful  improvisations  in 
the  Senate,  and  had  determined  to  get  at  his  views 
about  the  oratory  of  Patrick  Henry,  of  which  I  had 
heard  John  Adams  speak  in  terms  of  some  disparage 
ment.  I  accordingly  put  a  question  which  I  sup 
posed  would  call  out  a  panegyric  upon  the  orator  of 
Virginia.  I  asked  who  was  the  greatest  orator  he 
had  ever  heard.  The  reply  was  startling,  from  its 
unexpectedness.  "  The  greatest  orator  I  ever  heard,'5 
said  Eandolph,  "was  a  woman.  She  was  a  slave. 
She  was  a  mother,  and  her  rostrum  was  the  auction- 
block."  He  then  rose  and  imitated  with  thrilling 
pathos  the  tones  with  which  this  woman  had  appealed 
to  the  sympathy  and  justice  of  the  bystanders,  and 
finally  the  indignation  with  which  she  denounced 


VISITS   TO   JOHN   RANDOLPH.  213 

them.  "  There  was  eloquence  !  "  he  said.  "  I  have 
heard  no  man  speak  like  that.  It  was  overpower 
ing  ! "  He  sat  down  and  paused  for  some  moments  ; 
then,  evidently  feeling  that  he  had  been  imprudent 
in  expressing  himself  so  warmly  before  a  visitor  from 
the  North,  he  entered  upon  a  defence  of  the  policy  of 
Southern  statesmen  in  regard  to  slavery.  "  We  must 
concern  ourselves  with  what  is,"  he  said,  "and  slavery 
exists.  We  must  preserve  the  rights  of  the  States, 
as  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  or  the  negroes  are 
at  our  throats.  The  question  of  slavery,  as  it  is  called, 
is  to  us  a  question  of  life  and  death.  Remember,  it 
is  a  necessity  imposed  on  the  South ;  not  a  Utopia 
of  our  own  seeking.  You  will  find  no  instance  in 
history  where  two  distinct  races  have  occupied  the 
soil  except  in  the  relation  of  master  and  slave."  I 
brought  away  only  these  few  fragments  of  an  elabo 
rate  defence  of  the  course  which  he  and  other  South 
erners  felt  compelled  to  pursue;  but  they  give  its 
nature  with  sufficient  clearness. 

I  again  ventured  to  touch  upon  the  subject  of  ora 
tory,  and  this  time  Mr.  Randolph  broke  into  a  disqui 
sition  upon  the  nature  of  the  illustrations  which  a 
speaker  might  draw  from  literature.  I  regret  that  I 
can  give  so  little  of  what  he  said ;  but  so  much  as  I 
have  preserved  is  substantially  in  his  own  words  :  "  It 
is  a  great  blunder  for  a  speaker  to  allude  to  books 
which  are  not  familiar  to  his  audience.  A  quotation 
from  Horace  or  Juvenal  will  do  in  the  British  Parlia 
ment.  The  members  are  all  graduates  from  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  and  they  understand  it.  But  what 


214  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

folly  it  would  be  to  quote  the  classics  to  an  average 
American  audience !  I  know  of  only  three  books  with 
which  all  decently  educated  Americans  are  familiar. 
These  are  the  Bible,  Shakespeare,  and  Milton.  Now 
I  want  you  to  notice  a  fine  passage  from  Burke, 
which  I  will  repeat,  and  you  will  find  that  he  has 
used  thought  or  language  from  these  three  books  in 
its  construction."  Mr.  Eandolph  then  recited  the 
following  passage  from  the  author  he  had  named :  - 

"  Old  religious  factions  are  volcanoes  burnt  out. 
On  the  lava  and  ashes  arid  squalid  scoriae  of  old 
eruptions  grow  the  peaceful  olive,  the  cheering  vine, 
and  the  sustaining  corn.  Such  was  the  first,  such 
the  second  condition  of  Vesuvius.  But  when  a  new 
fire  bursts  out  a  face  of  desolation  comes  on,  not  to 
be  rectified  in  ages.  Therefore,  when  men  come 
before  us  and  rise  up  like  an  exhalation  from  the 
ground,  they  come  in  a  questionable  shape,  and  we 
must  exorcise  them  and  try  whether  their  intents  be 
wicked  or  charitable;  whether  they  bring  airs  from 
heaven  or  blasts  from  hell." 

I  said  that  I  did  not  remember  this  passage,  and 
asked  where  I  could  find  it.  "  Go  to  the  Congres 
sional  Library,"  was  Mr.  Randolph's  reply,  "look  in 
the  third  alcove,  on  the  right-hand  side,  third  shelf 
from  floor,  fifth  volume  on  the  shelf,  page  336,  about 
half-way  down."  I  made  a  memorandum  of  the  di 
rection,  went  to  the  library,  and  found  the  passage 
exactly  where  he  had  placed  it.  [Having  lost  the 
original  memorandum,  I  have  given  the  page  from 
my  own  copy  of  Burke,  which  may  or  may  not  cor- 


VISITS   TO   JOHN    RANDOLPH.  215 

respond  with  that  in  the  library ;  but  Mr.  Bandolph's 
direction  was  just  as  explicit  as  I  have  written  it.] 
Of  course,  such  a  feat  of  memory  might  have  been 
an  accident  or  a  trick.  In  Mr.  Bandolph's  case  I  am 
convinced  it  was  neither.  No  one  could  have  heard 
him  in  debate  or  conversation  without  being  im 
pressed  with  the  tenacious  clutch  of  his  memory 
upon  all  that  had  come  within  its  range.  A  fluent 
talker  without  abundant  stores  to  draw  upon  soon 
betrays  himself.  Others  may  have  had  as  great  a 
capital;  but  this  man's  wealth  was,  so  to  speak,  all 
on  deposit,  and  he  could  command  it  in  an  instant. 

Mr.  Randolph  spoke  of  the  Waverley  Novels,  and 
declared  Scott  to  be  a  mere  romancer,  who  drew  men 
as  we  should  like  to  see  them,  but  by  no  means  as 
they  are.  "  Fielding,  on  the  contrary,  holds  the 
mirror  up  to  nature;  his  characters  are  flesh  and 
blood.  There  are  Blifil  and  Black  George  types  of 
character  repeated  in  every  age."  A  week  or  two 
after  this,  Mr.  Bandolph's  remarks  were  vividly  re 
called  to  me  by  the  use  he  made  of  these  fictitious 
personages  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  In 
one  of  his  outbursts  of  indignation,  he  called  the 
union  of  the  Bresident  and  Henry  Clay  "the  coa 
lition  of  Blifil  and  Black  George ;  the  combination, 
unheard  of  till  now,  of  the  Buritan  and  the  blackleg." 
According  to  the  ruling  sentiment  at  Washington, 
there  was  but  one  result  which  could  follow  such 
language  as  this.  Mr.  Eandolph  and  Mr.  Clay  must 
exchange  shots,  and  so  they  did;  Mr.  Clay's  ball 
cutting  Mr.  Bandolph's  coat  near  the  hip,  and  Mr. 


216  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

Randolph's  ball  burying  itself  in  a  stump  in  the  rear 
of  Mr.  Clay.  On  the  second  round  Randolph  re 
ceived  the  shot  of  his  antagonist,  which  was  happily 
without  effect,  and  then,  raising  his  pistol,  fired  into 
the  air.  "  You  owe  me  a  coat,  Mr.  Clay,"  said  he,  ad 
vancing  and  holding  out  his  hand.  "  I  am  glad  the 
debt  is  no  greater,"  was  the  reply.  And  so  ended  an 
affair  which  Mr.  Benton  places  among  "  the  highest- 
toned  duels  "  that  he  ever  witnessed. 

I  spoke  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Gaillarcl,  of  South 
Carolina,  and  of  the  eulogium  of  his  colleague,  Mr. 
Hayne,  on  announcing  it  to  the  Senate.  "  Gaillard 
was  our  oldest  senator,"  said  Mr.  Randolph,  "  and  is 
greatly  to  be  pitied,  —  to  be  pitied,  not  because  he 
died,  but  because  he  died  in  this  place.  I  have  been 
ill  here  and  have  feared  death ;  feared  it  because  I 
would  not  die  in  Washington,  be  eulogized  by  men 
I  despise,  and  buried  in  the  Congressional  Bury  ing- 
ground.  The  idea  of  lying  by  the  side  of .  Ah, 

that  adds  a  new  horror  to  death !  I  have  done  what 
I  could  to  guard  against  this  calamity  by  directions 
to  my  executors  ;  but  who  knows  what  may  happen? " 
When  I  rose  to  take  leave  of  Mr.  Randolph,  after  a 
long  and  most  agreeable  visit,  he  shook  my  hand  very 
cordially  and  said,  "As  the  son  of  a  valued  friend 
of  mine,  it  has  given  me  great  pleasure  to  talk  with 
you.  I  mean  to  talk  to  you,  for  I  have  given  you 
no  chance  to  say  five  words  this  evening." 

As  I  have  mentioned  the  death  of  Mr.  Gaillard,  I 
will  close  with  a  word  about  his  funeral,  which  I  fear 
I  attended  in  no  better  character  than  that  of  a  sight- 


VISITS   TO   JOHN   RANDOLPH.  217 

seer.  It  was  held  in  the  Senate  Chamber ;  but  ex 
cept  the  members  of  a  committee,  who,  having  the 
arrangements  in  charge,  attended  officially,  there  were 
neither  mourners  nor  senators.  Dr.  Staughton,  the 
chaplain  of  the  Senate,  assisted  by  Mr.  Post,  who  held 
that  office  in  the  House,  performed  the  service.  They 
wore  long  white  scarfs,  which  also  decorated  the  com 
mittee,  as  well  as  the  doctor  of  the  deceased,  who, 
contrary  to  the  rulings  of  medical  etiquette,  was 
among  the  few  stragglers  who  looked  in  upon  the 
ceremony.  I  have  never  seen  the  color  white  used 
as  mourning  upon  any  other  occasion,  and  am  at  a 
loss  to  explain  its  significance.  The  chilly  indiffer 
ence  with  which  these  last  services  over  the  oldest 
senator  of  the  nation  were  regarded  struck  me  very 
painfully.  They  had  given  Congressmen  a  holiday, 
and  that  was  enough.  But  the  indifference  of  the 
Senate  Chamber  was,  at  least,  better  than  the  lur- 
lesque  of  the  streets  ;  for  this  is  the  term  my  journal 
applies  to  the  funeral  procession  which  it  describes. 
This  consisted  of  some  sixty  hacks,  in  every  stage  of 
shabbiness  and  dilapidation.  They  carried  no  pas 
sengers  ;  but  the  hats  of  the  drivers  were  bound  with 
broad  bands  of  snowy  whiteness,  which  descended 
half-way  down  their  variously  colored  backs.  A  thick 
fog  of  the  most  depressing  sort  filled  the  atmosphere 
as  this  wretched  pageantry  escorted  the  mortal  part 
of  poor  Mr.  Gaillard  to  the  congressional  sepulchre. 
Truly,  John  Randolph's  feelings  about  the  mortuary 
rites  of  Washington  were  not  to  be  wondered  at. 
"  Leur  luxe  est  affreux"  shuddered  Talleyrand,  in  ref- 


218  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

erence  to  the  taste  of  that  generation  of  our  country 
men  with  which  he  was  acquainted.  He  would  have 
had  no  occasion  to  use  a  less  vigorous  adjective  in 
contemplating  the  pompe  funebre  of  an  American 
senator  in  the  year  1826. 


RANDOLPH  IN   THE   SENATE. 


T  HAD  two  opportunities  of  listening  to  Mr.  Ran- 
•*•  dolph  in  the  Senate,  and  was  completely  fasci 
nated  by  his  extraordinary  gifts  as  a  talker;  for  it 
was  not  oratory  (though  at  times  he  would  produce 
great  oratorical  effects)  so  much  as  elevated  conver 
sation  that  he  poured  forth.  His  speeches  were 
charming  or  provoking,  according  to  the  point  of  view 
of  the  listener.  To  a  senator  anxious  to  expedite  the 
public  business,  or  to  hurry  through  the  bill  he  had 
in  charge,  Randolph's  harangues  upon  all  sorts  of 
irrelevant  subjects  must  have  been  very  annoying; 
but  to  one  who  was  not  troubled  by  such  responsi 
bilities  they  were  a  delightful  entertainment.  There 
was  no  effort  about  the  speeches.  They  were  given 
with  absolute  ease,  the  speaker  constantly  changing 
his  position,  turning  from  side  to  side,  and  at  times 
leaning  against  the  rail  which  enclosed  the  senatorial 
chairs.  His  dress  was  a  blue  riding-coat  with  buck 
skin  breeches ;  for  he  always  rode  to  the  Senate,  fol 
lowed  by  his  black  servant,  both  master  and  man 
being  finely  mounted.  His  voice  was  silvery  in  its 
tones,  becoming  unpleasantly  shrill  only  when  con 
veying  direct  invective.  Four  fifths  of  what  he  said 


220  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

had  the  slenderest  possible  connection  with  the  sub 
ject  which  had  called  him  up;  but,  so  far  as  the 
chance  visitor  was  concerned,  this  variety  only  added 
a  charm  to  the  entertainment. 

On  the  14th  of  February,  1826,  the  introduction  of 
a  bill  for  surveying  a  portion  of  Florida  with  a  view 
to  a  canal  route  brought  Mr.  Eandolph  to  his  feet. 
This  project  was  favored  by  the  other  representatives 
of  the  South,  and  it  was  easy  to  see  how  provoked 
and  embarrassed  they  felt  by  opposition  in  a  quarter 
so  unexpected.  But  Eandolph,  who  had  always 
strenuously  denied  the  power  of  Congress  to  make 
internal  improvements  in  the  States,  would  not  will 
ingly  concede  it  in  the  case  of  the  Territories.  He 
could  not  find  it  written  in  the  bond  that  the  money 
of  the  people  should  be  poured  out  for  local  improve 
ments  anywhere. 

Johnston,  of  Louisiana,  put  in  a  reply,  in  which  he 
used  Mr.  Eandolph  as  a  Southern  ally  with  great 
tenderness,  but  intimated  that,  as  Cuba  commanded 
the  key  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  its  possession  by  a 
first-class  naval  power  would  be  highly  injurious  to 
Southern  interests.  The  canal  would  be  in  some  sort 
a  protection  against  this  dire  possibility. 

"  If  all  constitutional  restraints  are  to  be  pushed 
aside,  let  us  take  Cuba  and  done  with  it ! "  said  Ean 
dolph,  in  reply.  Johnston's  special  pleading  was 
dubbed  an  argumentum  ab  inconvenienti,  and  he  was 
urged  to  consider  the  consequences  (the  wrord  was 
uttered  with  significant  emphasis)  which  might  en 
sue.  Here  Eandolph  paused  and  looked  his  fellow 


RANDOLPH   IN   THE    SENATE.  221 

Southerners  well  over.  Could  they  not  see  that,  by 
taking  this  bait  of  internal  improvements  to  strengthen 
their  peculiar  institution  of  slavery,  they  opened  the 
way  for  the  General  Government  to  interfere  to  its 
disadvantage?  The  words  were  unspoken,  but  the 
look  conveyed  their  meaning  with  perfect  clearness. 
He  concluded  in  a  strain  of  the  bitterest  irony :  "  But 
what  care  we  for  consequences  ?  Only  the  timid  and 
the  purblind  look  to  consequences !  No,  sir ;  your 
gallant  statesman,  mounted  on  his  Rosinante  and 
fairly  in  the  lists,  looks  to  no  consequence  —  [a  pause] 
except  to  his  own  consequence  ! " 

The  sarcasm  provoked  no  angry  retort  from  Hayne, 
of  South  Carolina,  who  now  entered  the  debate  with 
the  grace  and  forbearance  of  a  polished  gentleman. 
He  believed  in  drawing  a  distinction  between  state 
and  territory,  and  took  occasion  to  say  that  South 
Carolina  had  spent  nearly  two  millions  in  making 
her  own  canals  and  roads.  The  Territories  resembled 
the  District  of  Columbia,  over  which  no  one  doubted 
that  the  authority  of  Congress  was  paramount. 

Mr.  Randolph  replied  by  holding  up  a  copy  of  the 
Constitution,  in  a  somewhat  theatrical  style,  arid  de 
claring  that  it  was  like  the  Bible,  which  his  friends 
found  useful  for  preserving  their  receipts  and  deeds, 
but  which  they  never  opened.  He  disposed  of  the 
comparison  to  the  District  of  Columbia  very  effectu 
ally,  showing  that  the  omnipotent  sovereign  author 
ity  that  Congress  might  there  exercise  was  widely 
different  from  the  power  to  make  needful  regulations 
which  was  conceded  over  the  Territories.  The  authors 


222  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

of  the  Constitution,  he  said,  never  suspected  how 
their  political  machine  would  work ;  and,  after  point 
ing  out  their  misapprehensions  in  this  particular,  he 
disposed  of  these  worthies  by  exclaiming,  with  a 
superb  wave  of  the  hand,  "And  such  is  political 
foresight ! " 

Interesting  as  was  Mr.  Eandolph's  part  in  this 
debate  on  the  canal  question,  my  friends  assured  me 
that  I  had  not  yet  heard  him  at  his  best,  or  worst. 
But  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  present  in  the  Sen 
ate  some  two  weeks  afterward,  when  he  gave  what 
was  universally  allowed  to  be  one  of  the  most  char 
acteristic  speeches  he  ever  made.  This  was  in  refer 
ence  to  the  Panama  Mission,  an  absorbing  topic  of 
public  interest  and  one  which  created  on  both  sides 
feelings  as  intense  as  have  ever  been  shown  in  our 
national  legislature.  The  condition  of  certain  South 
American  states  had  recently  been  changed  from  that 
of  subject  colonies  to  independent  republics,  and  the 
project  was  formed  of  assembling  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  a  congress,  at  which  each  of  them  should  be 
represented,  to  deliberate  upon  subjects  common  to 
all.  The  United  States  were  asked  to  take  a  leading 
part  in  this  assembly,  and  the  invitation  had  been 
accepted,  and  plenipotentiaries  appointed  by  the  Ex 
ecutive.  The  Northern  States  warmly  approved  this 
course,  which  seemed  to  be  in  the  line  of  what  should 
be  the  national  sentiment.  The  monarchies  of  Europe 
had  formed  a  "Holy  Alliance"  to  crush  liberty  in 
the  Eastern  Hemisphere.  What  could  be  more  suit 
able  than  for  the  republics  of  the  West  to  unite  in  a 


RANDOLPH   IN   THE    SENATE.  223 

much  holier  union  to  maintain  it?  By  the  South 
this  interrogation  was  met  by  the  cry  that  a  fearful 
crisis  was  at  hand ;  and  while  some  of  its  more  as 
tute  representatives  confined  their  scruples  to  ques 
tions  of  constitutional  law  and  national  policy,  John 
Randolph  and  the  hotter  spirits  blurted  out  the  real 
objection  to  the  scheme.  The  South  would  never 
consult  with  nations  who  had  put  the  black  man  on 
an  equality  with  the  white,  and,  horror  upon  horrors ! 
were  known  to  have  mulatto  generals  in  command  of 
their  armies.  From  this  opposition  arose  the  party 
which  finally  placed  Jackson  in  the  presidential  chair ; 
a  party  whose  stock  in  trade  at  this  time  consisted  of 
bitter  vituperation  of  the  administration,  and  at  the 
head  of  which  Randolph  took  his  natural  place.  John 
Quincy  Adams  —  to  his  lasting  honor  be  it  said  —  re 
fused  to  remove  from  high  offices  men  who  had  joined 
a  party  which  imputed  to  his  administration  all  that 
was  corrupt  and  base.  They  had  a  right,  he  declared, 
to  support  such  men  and  measures  as  they  saw  fit; 
and  he  would  never  punish  a  man  for  any  criticism 
upon  his  own  political  acts,  however  offensively  it 
was  conveyed.  The  debate  in  the  Senate  upon  the 
proposition  to  send  ministers  to  the  congress  at 
Panama  had  been  held  with  closed  doors.  This  was 
the  custom  when  the  appointments  of  the  Executive 
were  considered,  and  consequently  there  was  no  au 
dience  for  the  stirring  appeals  which  rumor  attributed 
to  Randolph.  But  the  fiery  Southron  had  no  notion 
of  confining  a  vehement  expression  of  his  feelings  to 
a  petty  senatorial  group.  He  must  address  a  larger 


224  FIGURES    OF   THE    PAST. 

assembly,  and  he  saw  how  to  make  the  opportunity. 
On  the  1st  of  March  he  suddenly  sprung  a  resolution 
upon  the  Senate  which  called  upon  the  Executive  to 
communicate  information  concerning  the  views  of  the 
South  American  republics  relative  to  the  emancipa 
tion  of  slaves.  The  demand  was,  of  course,  absurd, 
as  the  President  could  possess  no  information  upon 
the  subject  that  was  not  open  to  any  inquirer ;  but 
it  served  the  purpose  of  abolishing  the  secret  session, 
and  admitting  the  public  to  hear  Mr.  Eandolph's 
views  about  the  Panama  Mission  and  about  a  great 
many  other  things  besides. 

He  began  with  sarcasm.  It  was  well  known  that 
the  President  of  the  United  States  meant  to  send 
ministers  to  the  congress  that  was  to  assemble  at 
Panama.  He  fervently  hoped,  that  these  ministers 
would  labor  under  none  of  the  odious  and  exploded 
prejudices  which  revolted  the  over- fastidious  Southern 
gentleman  and  repelled  him  from  associating  on  terms 
of  equality  with  persons  of  African  descent.  He 
hoped  that  the  ministers  who  had  been  appointed 
were  prepared  to  sit  down  humbly  with  the  native 
African,  the  mixed  breeds,  and  the  Indian,  and  to 
take  no  offence  at  the  motley  mixture.  General  Boli 
var,  whom  somebody  had  called  "  the  South  American 
Washington,"  was  then  handled  without  gloves.  "  I 
remember,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Randolph,  "  that  when  the 
old  Earl  of  Bedford  was  condoled  with  by  a  hypocrite 
on  the  murder  of  his  son,  Lord  Russell,  he  indignantly 
replied  that  he  would  not  exchange  his  dead  son  for 
the  living  son  of  any  man  on  earth.  So  I  would  not 


RANDOLPH   IN   THE   SENATE.  225 

give  our  dead  Washington  for  any  living  "Washington, 
or  (whatever  may  be  the  blessings  reserved  for  man 
kind  in  the  womb  of  time)  for  any  Washington  who 
is  likely  to  live  in  your  time,  Mr.  President,  or  in 
mine."  After  pouring  out  his  usual  wealth  of  illus 
tration  and  miscellaneous  knowledge,  Mr.  Eandolph 
took  up  Cuba,  from  which  island  he  asserted  that  the 
whole  country  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  could  be  in 
vaded  with  row-boats.  If  other  states  were  to  take 
possession  of  this  island,  the  genius  of  universal 
emancipation  would  proclaim  its  anathema  against 
the  white  population ;  and  then  what  would  be  the 
consequence  to  the  Southern  States  ?  "  This  is  one  of 
those  cases,"  he  exclaimed,  "  in  which  the  suggestion 
of  instinct  —  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  —  was 
worth  all  the  logic  in  the  world.  It  is  one  of  those 
cases  in  which  our  passions  instruct  our  reason  ! " 

But  Mr.  Eandolph's  great  effort  (if  I  may  so  call  a 
performance  which  to  him  was  evidently  no  effort  at 
all)  was  reserved  for  the  next  day.  He  announced 
that  he  should  ask  for  the  consideration  of  his  reso 
lution  immediately  upon  the  meeting  of  the  Senate, 
and  that  meant  that  another  speech  would  be  forth 
coming.  I  was  early  upon  the  spot,  and  for  two 
hours  held  my  attention  fixed  by  his  various  and 
fluent  improvisations,  his  cutting  irony,  his  terribly 
sincere,  although  absolutely  undeserved  denuncia 
tions.  His  memory  and  imagination  seemed  inex 
haustible.  He  would  take  a  subject  (almost  any 
which  happened  to  get  in  his  way),  turn  and  twist  it 
about,  display  it  in  some  fantastic  light,  and  then, 

15 


226  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

with  scorn,  push  it  aside.  That  famous  dictum  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  concerning  the 
equality  of  men,  which  thirty  years  after  Eufus 
Choate  styled  "a  glittering  generality,"  Randolph 
pilloried  as  "  an  idle  fanfarronade."  The  pernicious 
falsehoods  contained  in  these  general  expressions  were 
in  a  certain  sense  true,  and  so  were  especially  mis 
leading.  He  compared  Mr.  Jefferson's  statement  to 
that  of  a  person  who  should  say  that  the  soil  of  Scot 
land  was  as  rich  as  that  of  Kentucky,  because  there 
was  no  difference  in  the  superficial  contents  of  the 
acre. 

During  a  pause  in  the  discourse  Hayne  rose,  and 
urged  the  speaker  to  postpone  his  call  upon  the  Ex 
ecutive,  at  the  same  time  complimenting  him  warmly 
upon  his  speech. 

Taking  up  the  word,  Randolph  declared  that  he 
could  make  no  regular  speech.  Not  that  this  was  to 
be  regretted ;  for,  like  many  other  regular  things,  regu 
lar  speeches  were  apt  to  be  exceedingly  dull.  The 
general  effect  of  such  speeches  was  a  want  of  any 
effect  whatsoever.  What  he  did  was  to  imitate  an 
Italian  improvisatore,  taking  up  subjects  that  he  had 
well  thought  out.  He  considered  that  the  world  had 
been  greatly  injured  by  parliamentary  eloquence, 
which  was  no  qualification  for  government.  Fox,  to 
be  sure,  was  a. statesman,  as  well  as  a  debater ;  but  the 
dialectics  of  Pitt  had  been  the  curse  of  England.  He 
was  admirably  qualified  for  a  professor  of  rhetoric, 
and  might  have  held  that  chair  at  Cambridge  in  Old 
or  New  England  (a  thrust  at  Mr.  Adams,  who  had 


RANDOLPH  JN  THE  SENATE.         227 

been  professor  of  this  art  in  Harvard  College) ;  but 
as  a  statesman  he  was  a  tyro  and  his  great  measures 
all  failed. 

In  concluding,  Eandolph  told  a  story  of  some  wise 
acre  who  was  sent  to  search  the  vaults  of  the  Parlia 
ment  House  at  the  time  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot. 
This  mythical  personage  reported  that  he  found  fifty 
barrels  of  powder,  and  had  removed  twenty-five  of 
them  and  hoped  that  the  rest  would  do  no  harm. 
"The  step  you  are  about  to  take,"  exclaimed  the 
speaker,  the  characteristic  outstretched  forefinger 
pointing  the  emphasis,  "  applies  the  match  to  the 
powder;  and,  be  there  twenty-five  barrels  or  fifty 
barrels,  there  is  enough  to  blow,  not  the  first  of  the 
Stuarts,  but  the  last  of  another  dynasty  sky-high, 
sir  !  Yes,  sir,  sky-high  ! " 

And  sky-high  rose  the  voice  of  Mr.  Piandolph,  as 
if  to  follow  Mr.  Adams  in  his  aerial  flight.  There 
was  no  savor  of  the  ridiculous  in  this  passionate 
climax.  The  speaker's  thorough -going  sincerity  pre 
vented  such  a  suggestion.  The  old  saying  that  lan 
guage  was  given  to  man  to  conceal  his  thoughts  has 
a  percentage  of  truth  in  it.  Most  men  are  conscious 
of  selecting  and  modifying  the  products  of  the  mind, 
with  a  view  to  their  suitable  presentation.  The  in 
terest  of  Eandolph's  speeches  was  that  he  simply 
exposed  his  intellect  and  let  you  see  it  at  work.  It 
was  like  catching  Webster  or  some  other  great  orator 
in  his  library  and  looking  over  the  rough  notes  he 
had  rejected.  There  one  might  find  figures  of  rhetoric 
a  little  too  showy  for  good  taste ;  blunt  expressions 


228  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

of  opinion  which  had  been  softened  and  draped  in 
ambiguous  phrases.  It  is  possible  that  such  a  sur 
vey  might  increase  our  admiration  for  the  artist,  at 
the  expense  of  our  respect  for  the  man.  But  after 
hearing  Randolph  speak  or  converse,  the  feeling  was 
that  you  had  come  in  contact  with  the  essential  per 
sonality  of  this  Virginian  Hotspur,  and  that  there 
was  much  there  which  justified  the  affection  that 
his  friends  felt  for  him. 

A  gentleman  whom  I  met  in  Washington  had  re 
turned  with  Randolph  to  his  plantation  after  a  ses 
sion  of  Congress,  and  testified  to  me  of  the  affection 
with  which  he  was  regarded  by  his  slaves.  Men  and 
women  rushed  toward  him,  seized  him  by  the  hand 
with  perfect  familiarity,  and  burst  into  tears  of  de 
light  at  his  presence  among  them.  His  conduct  to 
these  humble  dependants  was  like  that  of  a  most 
affectionate  father  among  his  children,  and  it  is  well 
known  that,  when  he  could  no  longer  protect  them, 
he  emancipated  them  by  will  and  provided  for  their 
support  in  a  free  State. 

The  time  has  not  yet  come  to  estimate  with  impar 
tiality  the  class  of  Southern  gentlemen  to  which  Ran 
dolph  belonged.  Many  of  them  were  men  of  great 
ability  and  singular  fascination  of  manner.  Once 
accept  their  premises  (and  these  premises  were  to 
them  as  the  axioms  of  mathematics),  and  they  are 
knightly  figures  fighting  upon  that  side  of  the  irre 
pressible  conflict  which  protected  their  families  and 
the  civilization,  such  as  it  was,  which  had  produced 
themselves  and  the  high-spirited  caste  into  which 


RANDOLPH   IN  THE   SENATE.  229 

they  were  born.  The  incendiarism  which  would 
light  the  torch  of  servile  insurrection  and  plunge 
their  fair  possessions  into  barbarism  seemed  to  them 
far  worse  than  that  which  fired  warehouses  and  dwell 
ings,  which  a  few  months  of  labor  might  replace.  It 
is  unnecessary  here  to  enlarge  upon  their  errors  or 
delusions,  which  every  school-boy  now  deems  himself 
able  to  expose.  Of  Mr.  Eandolph  I  saw  too  little, 
and  I  look  with  sincere  regret  upon  this  kind  note 
from  him,  interleaved  with  my  journal  and  written 
the  day  I  left  Washington.  It  bids  me  come  and 
dine  with  him  at  "  a  confectioner's  shop  near  the 
Seven  Buildings."  There  I  should  have  met  a  small 
circle  of  his  friends,  with  the  consequence  of  much 
satisfaction  to  myself  at  the  time,  and  possibly  to  the 
readers  of  this  paper  half  a  century  later. 


COMMODORE   STOCKTON. 


'T^HE  gentlemen  whom  I  met  at  Miss  Hyer's 
-*-  boarding-house  were  for  the  most  part  consid 
erably  older  than  myself,  and  I  became  really  inti 
mate  with  only  one  of  them.  To  Lieutenant  Stockton 
—  or,  as  he  was  commonly  called,  Captain  Stockton 
—  there  was  much  to  unite  me.  A  few  years  my 
senior,  he  was  a  lifetime  before  me  in  experience. 
Our  fathers  had  fought  together  in  the  thinning  ranks 
of  Federalism,  and  had  imbued  their  sons  with  the 
sentiment  that  it  was  honor  enough  to  perish  with 
that  failing  cause,  and  that  no  future  party  could  so 
claim  the  allegiance  of  intelligent  gentlemen.  In 
Captain  Stockton  himself  there  centred  elements  of 
romance  which  are  seldom  possible  to  our  prosaic 
modern  life.  His  cruises  about  the  world  were  in 
the  exciting  times  of  war  and  piracy,  and  he  had 
penetrated  a  part  of  Africa  where  no  white  man  had 
ever  set  foot.  Of  hairbreadth  'scapes  he  had  had  a 
generous  allowance.  He  had  fought  duels  when  the 
sentiment  of  his  profession  called  for  this  test  of 
personal  valor ;  and,  with  a  nobler  courage,  he  had 
thrown  the  cat-o'-nine-tails  into  the  sea,  declaring 
that  the  lash  was  not  necessary  to  govern  men  who 
were  sailing  under  a  competent  commander. 


COMMODORE    STOCKTON.  231 

I  became  very  well  acquainted  with  Stockton. 
We  took  long  rambles  together  about  Washington  ; 
and,  after  my  return  from  its  evening  festivities, 
we  would  sit  long  into  the  night,  gently  sipping  a 
medicine  which  the  doctors  of  the  capital  thought 
destructive  of  the  influenza  germs  which  were  lying 
in  wait  for  the  unwary.  Of  course,  I  am  fitting  their 
opinions  to  a  modern  phrase;  for  they  knew  nothing 
about  the  germ  theory  in  those  days,  but  fought  dis^ 
ease  with  such  antidotes  as  observation  commended. 
Not  knowing  the  Latin  name  under  which  their 
prescription  may  figure  in  the  pharmacopoeia,  I  am 
obliged  to  give  it  the  bald  English  translation  of 
whiskey  punch.  The  hour  was,  of  all  the  twenty- 
four,  best  adapted  to  confidences,  and  it  is  possible 
that  the  medicine  contributed  a  little  to  the  easy 
flow  of  the  narratives.  Had  Sindbad  the  Sailor  been 
a  man  of  unimpeachable  veracity,  I  am  willing  to 
allow  that  those  who  listened  to  the  story  of  his 
voyages,  as  it  fell  from  his  own  lips,  might  have 
been  more  astonished  and  interested  than  was  the 
companion  of  Captain  Stockton ;  but  with  this  nota 
ble  exception,  surely  no  mariner  of  thirty  ever  had 
adventures  more  remarkable,  or  told  them  more  mod 
estly  and  agreeably. 

I  remember  the  fine  spirit  with  which  Stockton 
gave  the  story  of  the  expected  engagement  with  the 
British  ship  "Plantagenet."  "This  was  just  off  the 
harbor  of  New  York,"  he  said.  "We  had  been 
cruising  about  the  seas  for  months,  and  were  spoiling 
for  a  fight.  The  '  Plantagenet '  was  to  windward, 


FIGURES   OF   THE    PAST. 

and  we  could  not  go  to  her ;  but  Eodgers  backed  his 
topsails  and  fired  a  gun  as  a  signal  to  her  to  come 
down.  Our  guns  were  then  shotted  and  our  decks 
cleared  for  action.  The  Britisher  had  a  heavier 
weight  of  metal  than  we,  arid  Eodgers's  plan  was  to 
take  her  by  boarding.  Some  of  us  had  to  go  to  the 
maintop,  armed  with  rifles  and  a  couple  of  howitzers. 
Up  aloft  I  was  in  command  ;  below  every  man  was 
at  his  post ;  and  then  —  we  waited  and  waited. 
Eodgers  kept  walking  up  arid  down  the  deck,  and 
the  creak  of  his  boots  was  the  only  sound  that  broke 
the  silence.  Suddenly  the  Commodore  called  out  to 
me,  'Mr.  Stockton,  we  expect  great  things  from  you 
to-day,  sir!'  I  was  but  a  young  fellow  then,  and 
when  he  said  that,  I  would  have  got  into  a  gun  and 
been  shot  off,  if  that  would  have  given  us  the  victory. 
What  Shakespeare  says  about  the  interim  between 
the  acting  of  -a  fearful  thing  and  the  first  motion  we 
had  reason  to  understand.  The  delay  was  a  hideous 
dream,  just  as  he  calls  it.  We  waited  and  waited; 
but  the  '  Plantagenet '  would  not  accept  our  chal 
lenge.  Well,  Eodgers  had  a  British  colonel  down 
below,  whom  he  had  taken  out  of  a  prize  ;  so,  when 
he  could  stand  it  no  longer,  he  sent  down  his  com 
pliments  and  begged  him,  if  he  were  at  leisure,  to 
step  on  deck  for  a  few  moments.  'Now,  sir,'  said 
the  Commodore,  handing  him  his  glass,  '  oblige  me 
by  looking  that  British  man-of-war  well  over.  Does 
she  carry  more  metal  than  the  "  President  "  ? '  'I 
should  say  she  did,  sir.'  '  Well,  sir,  I  Ve  challenged 
her,  and  she  refuses.  What  do  you  say  to  that  ? ' 


COMMODORE   STOCKTON.  233 

'I  don't  know  what  to  say  to  it,  sir;  but  this  I  do 
know,  that  if  I  ever  get  to  England  I  will  take  no 
rest  till  the  commander  of  that  vessel  is  hanging  at 
his  own  yard-arm.'  Well,  the  end  of  it  was  that  the 
commander  of  the  '  Plantagenet '  was  tried  in  Eng 
land  ;  but  got  off  on  the  ground  that  his  crew  were 
in  such  a  state  of  mutiuy  that  he  could  not  give 
battle." 

I  can  give  only  a  few  salient  points  from  narrations 
which  deserved  much  fuller  reporting.  But  what  no 
reporting  can  give  is  the  joyous,  patriotic  temper  with 
which  the  gallant  officer  gave  his  spirited  accounts 
of  the  humbling  of  the  British  flag  upon  the  ocean 
during  the  war  which  began  in  1812.  His  adven 
tures  on  board  the  "  Guerriere  "  and  the  "  Spitfire," 
and  the  capture  of  the  Algerine  pirates,  given  as  I 
heard  them,  would  make  the  fortune  of  a  star  lec 
turer  ;  but  of  these  neither  my  notes  nor  my  memory 
permit  me  to  furnish  reliable  fragments. 

But  Stockton's  most  wonderful  feat  was  his  journey 
into  an  unknown  portion  of  Africa,  in  the  interest  of 
the  scheme  of  colonization,  which  finally  resulted  in 
the  settlement  of  Liberia.  His  route  lay  through 
swamps  and  jungles  which  no  white  man  had  ever 
passed ;  and  the  end  of  the  expedition  placed  him  in 
the  power  of  savages  who  were  inflamed  against,  him 
as  an  enemy  to  their  business  of  supplying  victims 
for  the  slave-trade.  He  was  surrounded  by  five 
hundred  or  more  negroes,  breathing  vengeance  and 
threatening  the  instant  extermination  of  his  small 
party.  "  I  thought  I  would  get  in  a  speech,"  said 


234  "FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

Stockton,  "  before  I  went  down.  I  bad  brougbt  along 
an  interpreter,  who  translated  every  sentence  wbile  I 
was  thinking  over  the  next.  I  was  speaking  for  my 
life,  and  I  think  I  was  eloquent ;  but  I  used  only  one 
gesture.  My  hand  held  a  pistol  at  full  cock,  pointed 
at  the  head  of  the  chief.  I  told  them  that  upon  the 
first  attempt  at  violence  that  man  should  drop,  and 
that  the  Almighty  would  visit  a  worse  punishment 
upon  the  rest  of  them,  if  they  dared  to  molest  a 
stranger  who  had  come  to  do  them  good."  The  end 
of  it  was  that  the  savages  quailed  at  the  threat,  and 
became  perfectly  submissive.  Stockton  thought  that 
moral  cowardice  was  not  peculiar  to  the  civilized 
races.  It  might  be  excited  in  savages,  if  one  hap 
pened  to  hit  upon  an  appeal  which  could  reach  them. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  effect  of 
the  speech  did  not  cease  when  the  chief  was  no  longer 
under  fire.  The  pledges  then  made  were  faithfully 
carried  out,  and  the  adventurous  mission  accomplished 
its  purposes. 

Something  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  the 
question  whether  duelling  was  consistent  with  moral 
duty  was  raised  in  the  presence  of  Dr.  Johnson.  Old 
General  Oglethorpe,  Boswell  tells  us,  fired  up  at  the 
doubt  implied  in  this  inquiry.  "  Undoubtedly,"  said 
he,  "  a  man  has  a  right  to  defend  his  honor."  Al 
though  the  great  Christian  moralist  was  indisposed 
to  settle  the  question  in  this  off-hand  way,  he  ad 
mitted  that  the  practice  might  be  justified  in  the 
then  existing  state  of  public  opinion.  He  reasoned 
that  it  was  never  unlawful  to  fight  in  self-defence ; 


COMMODORE   STOCKTON.  235 

and,  so  long  as  the  notion  prevailed  that  an  affront 
was  a  serious  injury  and  a  man  lost  social  standing 
by  putting  up  with  it,  he  might  be  permitted  to  chal 
lenge  the  aggressor.     In  1826  the  dominant  opinion 
of  Washington  was  in  accord  with  that  of  Dr.  John 
son.     I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  Secretary  of 
State,  charged  with  the  interests  of  a  mighty  nation, 
felt  obliged  to  peril  his  own  life  and  to  risk  taking 
that  of  another  man  because  foolish  words  had  been 
spoken  in   debate.      It  was    admitted,  indeed,  that 
duelling  was  an  evil ;  and  so  was  war  an  evil ;  but 
as  the  higher  civilizations  could  not  be  maintained 
without  recourse  to  arms,  so  the  unsullied  character 
of  a  gentleman  —  the  priceless  outcome  of  these  civ 
ilizations  —  could  not  be  preserved  unless  he  was 
ready  to  hazard  life  in  its  defence.     It  would  not  be 
difficult  to  point  out  the  defect  in  an  analogy  which 
was  specious  enough  to  justify  a  temporary  phase  of 
human  opinion  ;  and  this  opinion,  strong  as  it  was 
in  the  civil  circles  of  the  capital,  was  held  with  ten 
fold  tenacity  in  the  army  and  navy.     To  say,  then, 
that   Stockton  in  his   younger   days  was  a  duellist 
amounts  to  little  more  than  to  declare  that  Wash 
ington  was  a  slaveholder.     In  these  times  a  knight- 
errant  would  be  quickly  dismounted  and  driven  to 
the  House  of  Correction  in  the  prisoners'  van.     Place 
him  where  he  belongs,  and  he  stands  out  as  the  type 
of  a  hero.     A  gallant  and  chivalrous  officer  of  the 
American  navy,  when  this  century  was  in  its  teens, 
was  bound  to  risk  his  life  in  a  duel  when  the  honor 
of  his  profession  demanded  it.     His  ideas  of  duty  in 


236  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

such  a  matter  were  very  different  from  ours-;  but, 
such  as  they  were,  we  can  admire  the  pluck  and  con 
sistency  with  which  a  man  like  Stockton  accepted 
the  course  they  indicated.  The  entire  conscientious 
ness  of  the  man  shone  through  the  accounts  he  gave 
me  of  his  adventures  upon  the  field  of  honor,  and 
neither  of  us  were  troubled  by  scruples  which  might 
have  presented  themselves  when  the  blood  moved 
less  rapidly  and  a  more  sober  generation  was  con 
ducting  the  world. 

An  insult  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  American  navy, 
written  in  a  book  that  was  seen  by  everybody,  was 
shown  to  Stockton,  when  his  ship,  the  "  Erie,"  arrived 
in  the  Bay  of  Naples.  It  bore  the  signature  of  a 
British  officer  then  in  that  port ;  and  the  young 
Lieutenant,  without  more  ado,  declared  that  the 
fellow  should  eat  his  words  or  fight  him.  A  friend 
properly  accredited  was  despatched  to  the  British 
ship,  and,  after  a  good  deal  of  demur,  the  author  of 
the  outrage  was  got  ashore  and  consented  to  fight 
at  long  range.  Their  pistols  were  discharged  at  the 
proper  signal,  and  Stockton's  ball  struck  his  adver 
sary  in  the  leg,  whereupon  the  fellow  bellowed  out : 
"  You  have  hit  me.  Are  you  satisfied  now  ?"  "No" 
said  Stockton ;  "  I  am  not  satisfied  until  you  write 
me  an  apology  for  the  language  you  have  used." 
Whereupon  his  fellow  Britons  declared  that  their 
man,  having  given  satisfaction,  was  exempt  from 
further  proceedings.  He  had  vindicated  his  honor, 
and  that  was  enough.  The  American  party  by  no 
means  accepted  this  decision,  and  said  several  un- 


COMMODOKE   STOCKTON.  237 

pleasant  things  about  the  cowardice  which  prompted 
this  miserable  subterfuge. 

I  now  come  to  the  most  marvellous  duelling  adven 
ture  in  which  Stockton  was  engaged ;  and  this  I  shall 
give  as  I  heard  the  story  told  by  its  hero,  one  day 
after  dinner  and  in  the  presence  of  several  gentlemen 
who  were  lingering  about  the  table.  Since  writing 
out  the  narrative  given  below,  I  have  found  in  the 
Boston  City  Library  an  anonymous  life  of  Stockton, 
apparently  written  for  some  political  purpose  and 
published  in  1856.  The  writer  gives  an  account  of 
this  duel  from  hearsay  and  "  according  to  his  remem 
brance."  The  narrative  differs  from  mine  in  several 
respects,  and  omits  some  striking  particulars,  which 
I  am  certain  that  I  heard  from  the  principal  actor. 
There  must  exist  materials  for  an  authentic  life  of 
the  brilliant  Commodore,  and  a  most  interesting  book 
it  would  be.  Neither  my  memory  nor  my  journals 
are  infallible ;  and  if  any  particulars  are  misstated 
(which  I  do  not  believe  to  be  the  case),  they  are 
offered  as  subject  to  correction  by  a  responsible  biog 
rapher. 

The  scene  was  at  Gibraltar,  and  there  had  been  a 
previous  duel  between  Stockton  and  a  British  officer 
attached  to  the  station,  who,  however,  was  not  the 
officer  from  whom  the  affront  to  be  avenged  had 
really  come.  There  had  been  charges  and  counter 
charges,  negotiations  and  criminations,  till  finally  the 
American  officer  in  command  put  a  stop  to  proceed 
ings  by  an  order  that  none  of  his  subordinates  should 
go  ashore  while  the  ship  remained  in  that  port.  The 


238  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

lull  was  only  temporary.  After  a  short  cruise,  the 
"  Erie  "  returned  to  Gibraltar,  and  this  time  the  real 
offender  was  forced  by  the  public  opinion  of  his  fel 
lows  to  give  the  Yankee  Lieutenant  the  meeting  he 
had  demanded.  A  guaranty  was  required  by  Stock 
ton  that  the  British  authorities  of  the  town  should 
not  be  informed  of  the  duel,  with  a  view  to  ordering 
his  arrest ;  and  a  pledge  was  given  that  there  should 
be  no  interference.  "  Under  these  circumstances," 
said  Stockton,  "I  went  ashore  without  distrust.  The 
flag  had  been  grossly  insulted  by  a  British  officer, 
who  was  now  backed  up  by  his  comrades.  I  was 
the  only  unmarried  officer  on  board  the  'Erie,'  and 
my  duty  was,  of  course,  clear.  The  governor  of  the 
fortress,  during  our  previous  visit,  had  announced 
that  he  would  hang  any  Yankee  who  came  ashore 
for  the  purpose  of  fighting;  and  although  it  was 
not  probable  that  he  would  have  dared  to  carry  out 
the  threat,  he  would  have  been  ugly  enough,  had  he 
caught  me.  It  was  arranged  between  our  seconds 
that,  upon  landing,  we  should  be  conducted  to  a  re 
tired  place,  where  the  duel  might  come  off  without 
interference.  British  honor  was  pledged  to  this,  and, 
believing  it  still  to  be  worth  something,  I  was  rowed 
ashore,  accompanied  by  my  second  and  the  ship's 
doctor."  The  graphic  description  of  what  followed 
must  be  given  in  a  feeble  outline.  The  Americans 
were  conducted  to  a  spot  near  the  top  of  the  rock, 
where  they  met  the  opposing  party.  It  then  ap 
peared  that  no  immediate  fighting  was  contemplated, 
for  the  Englishmen  began  to  enter  upon  a  discussion, 


COMMODORE   STOCKTON,  239 

and  to  raise  frivolous  objections  to  the  recognized 
code  of  duelling.  Stockton,  seeing  that  all  this  tended 
to  delay,  and  suspecting  treachery,  suddenly  declared 
that  he  would  waive  all  rights,  and  fight  at  once  upon 
whatever  terms  his  opponent  chose  to  exact.  After 
such  a  declaration  no  retreat  was  possible.  The  ground 
was  measured,  shots  were  exchanged,  and  the  British 
officer  fell  wounded.  Stockton  advanced  to  inquire 
into  the  nature  of  the  injury,  and  then  the  wretched 
man  was  shamed  into  a  confession  that  treachery  had 
been  practised,  and  that  instant  flight  was  necessary, 
if  his  opponent  would  avoid  arrest.  Upon  this  the 
Lieutenant  started  for  his  boat,  running  at  full  speed. 
His  way  lay  through  a  passage  cut  out  of  the  rock, 
which  gave  access  to  the  beach  below.  Upon  turn 
ing  a  corner,  when  about  half-way  down,  he  was  con 
fronted  by  a  file  of  soldiers,  drawn  up  to  oppose  his 
passage.  The  officer  in  command  was  a  pursy  little 
fellow,  who  seemed  to  enjoy  hugely  the  discomfiture 
of  his  supposed  captive.  There  stood  this  merry  gen 
tleman  upon  a  parapet  which  guarded  the  road,  and 
which  was  raised  a  few  feet  above  it.  His  squad  was 
ranged  in  a  line  with  him,  completely  cutting  off  the 
passage.  There  was  not  a  moment  for  delay ;  the 
situation  was  desperate ;  it  could  be  met  only  by  a 
resolve  as  desperate.  The  officer  was  off  his  guard 
and  was  chuckling  with  delight.  Now  was  the  in 
stant  for  a  dash.  Now  stiffen  the  sinews,  summon 
up  the  blood,  and  there  was  yet  a  chance  for  lib 
erty.  Instead  of  making  the  surrender  which  was 
expected,  Stockton  sprang  at  this  cheerful  officer. 


240  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

He  grappled  with  him  ;  he  got  his  head  under  his 
arm  ;  he  jumped  with  him  from  the  parapet,  and 
in  a  moment  the  two  men,  clasped  together,  were 
rolling  over  and  over  down  the  side  of  the  rock. 
Presently  the  parties  separated,  the  Englishman  roll 
ing  one  way  and  the  American  another.  At  length 
Stockton  managed  to  stop  his  dizzying  and  perilous 
descent,  and  dropped  a  number  of  feet  to  the  beach 
below.  Covered  with  blood  and  dirt,  with  his  clothes 
nearly  stripped  from  him,  he  accosted  a  gentleman 
who  was  taking  his  morning  ride  upon  the  beach,  and 
begged  the  instant  loan  of  his  horse.  This  request 
the  rider  not  unnaturally  declined.  Whereupon  he 
was  seized  by  the  leg  and  pulled  from  the  saddle. 
His  assailant  instantly  mounted  the  horse,  and,  put 
ting  him  to  his  speed,  made  for  the  boat.  He  looked 
up  for  a  moment,  and  saw  the  soldiers  running  about 
in  a  distracted  manner ;  most  of  them  tearing  down 
the  road,  to  cut  him  off.  Stockton,  however,  reached 
the  boat,  gave  the  order  to  pull  for  the  frigate,  and 
then  fainted.  He  did  not  recover  consciousness  until 
he  found  himself  in  his  berth  on  board  the  "  Erie." 

These  events  were  related  at  the  persistent  request 
of  others.  They  were  given  modestly,  but  with  great 
spirit.  There  were  at  that  time  living  witnesses  to 
the  escape,  and  the  facts  connected  with  it  were  well 
known.  I  have  already  said  that  we  must  regard 
Stockton's  duels  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  pro 
fession  to  which  he  was  devoted.  The  highest  officers 
of  the  navy  sanctioned  this  barbarism  as  a  duty  to 
which  a  brave  and  honorable  man  might  be  called. 


COMMODORE   STOCKTON.  241 

Only  a  few  years  before  my  visit  to  Washington  four 
American  Commodores  left  the  city  on  this  miserable 
business.  Decatur  arid  Barron  were  the  principals ; 
Bainbridge  and  Elliot  acting  as  seconds.  The  brave 
and  gallant  Decatur,  the  pride  of  the  American  navy, 
there  met  his  death.  It  is  not  necessary  to  resort  to 
Christian  ethics  to  condemn  a  practice  which  has  cost 
such  valuable  lives ;  but  let  us  do  justice  to  the  high- 
minded  men  who  were  victims  of  an  infatuation  which 
we  have  left  behind  us. 


10 


THE  SUPKEME  COUET  AND  THE  "MAKI- 
ANKA  FLOKA." 


r  I  ^HE  day  after  my  arrival  at  the  capital  I  called 
-*-  upon  Judge  Story,  at  the  Supreme  Court,  as  he 
had  requested  me  to  do.  Immediately  upon  adjourn 
ment  he  presented  me  to  the  Chief  Justice  and  Judge 
Bushrod  Washington,  both  gentlemen  whom  I  had 
much  desired  to  meet.  The  first  view  of  Judge  Mar 
shall  was  not  impressive.  He  struck  me  as  a  tall 
man  who  regretted  his  height,  because  he  had  not  the 
knack  of  carrying  it  off  with  ease  and  dignity.  His 
manner  was  so  simple  as  to  be  almost  rustic ;  and, 
were  it  not  for  the  brilliancy  of  his  eyes,  he  might 
have  been  taken  for  a  mere  political  judge  instead  of 
the  recognized  expositor  of  the  Constitution.  Judge 
Story  had  already  hinted  that  Marshall  would  be  dis 
appointing  to  a  stranger,  adding  that  only  his  asso 
ciates  on  the  Bench  could  appreciate  his  real  wisdom 
and  greatness.  The  Chief  Justice  spoke  of  his  sym 
pathy  with  my  father  in  the  good  cause  of  Federalism, 
and  referred  to  the  venerable  sage  of  Monticello  as 
"  Tom  Jefferson,"  pronouncing  the  name  with  an  in 
terrogative  emphasis,  which,  without  compromising 
judicial  impartiality,  showed  that,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  speaker,  the  verdict  of  the  competent  upon  that 


SUPREME   COURT  AND  THE  "  MAKIANNA  FLORA."      243 

important  personage  Lad  not  yet  been  rendered. 
Marshall  was  held  in  extraordinary  esteem  by  all 
political  parties,  and  the  Virginians  were  especially 
proud  of  him.  Like  all  really  great  men,  he  never 
troubled  himself  about  dignity  and  had  the  simple 
tastes  and  ready  sympathies  of  a  child.  He  hated 
slavery,  but  prophesied  that  it  could  only  cease 
through  a  social  convulsion.  He  thereby  proved  him 
self  wiser  than  most  of  the  enlightened  men  of  his 
time,  who  confidently  looked  to  economical  causes  to 
destroy  this  anomaly.  A  few  days  after  my  intro 
duction  to  the  Chief  Justice,  I  spoke  of  him  to  a  gen 
tleman  from  Richmond,  whom  I  met  at  an  evening 
party.  "  People  in  Washington  don't  begin  to  under 
stand  him,"  said  he.  "Why,  do  you  know,  I  have 
met  Marshall  carrying  his  dinner  through  the  streets 
in  an  open  basket!"  Tins  act  of  humiliation  was 
more  impressive  to  a  Southerner  than  to  one  of 
Northern  birth,  and  perhaps  I  did  not  exhibit  the 
astonishment  that  was  expected.  But  the  Virginian 
(whose  name  I  cannot  recall,  though  I  can  bring  the 
man  distinctly  before  me)  had  a  climax  in  reserve,  of 
which  he  delivered  himself  with  impressive  emphasis : 
"  Yes,  sir ;  and  I  have  seen  that  man  walking  on  his 
hands  and  knees,  with  a  straw  in  his  mouth  !  "  This 
was  sufficiently  removed  from  the  actions  usually  as 
sociated  with  the  ermine,  and  was  startling  to  one 
who  could  not  supply  the  explanation  that  would 
have  instantly  occurred  to  a  Southerner.  The  game 
of  quoits  was  at  that  time  as  universal  at  the  South 
as  was  croquet  a  few  years  ago  upon  Northern  lawns. 


244  FIGURES   OF   THE  PAST. 

Disputes  constantly  arose,  which  required  that  the 
distances  of  the  quoits  from  the  hub  should  be  accu 
rately  determined,  and  a  straw,  which  was  commonly 
at  hand,  was  the  accepted  instrument  for  measuring. 
Judge  Marshall,  who  was  a  great  lover  of  the  game, 
would  not  shirk  any  of  its  duties.  Hence  the  singu 
lar  position  in  which  his  fellow-citizen  represented 
him. 

Through  Judge  Washington,  the  men  of  my  gener 
ation  were  brought,  as  it  were,  within  speaking  dis 
tance  of  the  Father  of  his  Country.  He  was  not  to 
us  the  statuesque,  passionless  figure  which  I  am  told 
that  he  has  since  become.  Here  was  a  man  who  had 
called  him  "  Uncle  George,"  had  joked  with  him,  and 
plagued  him,  as  young  people  will  plague  older  rela 
tives  who  are  responsible  for  their  good  conduct. 
For  Bushrod  Washington  was  more  than  the  nephew, 
he  was  almost  the  adopted  son,  of  his  uncle.  He 
resided  at  Mt.  Vernon,  which  he  had  inherited,  as 
the  representative  of  the  name,  as  well  as  the  nearest 
relative,  of  its  former  possessor.  He  struck  me  as 
being  somewhat  too  small  a  man  for  an  ideal  judge, 
and  he  took  snuff  too  frequently  to  be  credited  with 
those  personal  austerities  which  are  riot  unbecoming 
in  magistrates.  But  his  manner  to  me  was  very  kind 
and  pleasant.  He  spoke  of  his  friendship  for  my 
father,  and  of  the  visits  he  had  received  from  him  at 
Mt.  Vernon. 

One  of  these  visits  was  in  the  spring  of  1806  ;  and 
although  I  was  in  Washington  at  the  time,  I  was  too 
young  to  remember  the  circumstances.  But,  like 


SUPREME  COURT  AND  THE  "  MARIANNA  FLORA."  245 

many  events  which  happen  in  childhood,  and  for  some 
years  after  are  constantly  referred  to  in  the  family 
circle,  it  seems  as  if  I  remembered  all  about  it.     The 
scene  of  my  father's  only  ghost  story  —  if  so  it  may 
be  called  —  was  laid  at  Mt.  Yernou  ;  and  this  alone 
was  sufficient  to  make  the  occasion  memorable  to  a 
boy.     The    chamber   in    which   his   uncle    had   died 
was  assigned  by  Judge  Washington  to  his  guest ;  the 
host,  as  he  withdrew,  mentioning  the  rumor  that  an 
interview  with  Washington  had  been  granted  to  some 
of  its  former  occupants.     If  this  were  true,  my  father 
pondered  upon  the  possibility  that  he  might  be  found 
worthy  to  behold  the  .glorified  spirit  of  him  who  was 
so  revered  by  his  countrymen.     And  during  the  night 
he  did  see  Washington,  and  this  is  all  I  have  to  say 
about  it.     If  I  gave   the  particulars,  I   should  feel 
bound   to  give  a  full  explanation   of  them   by  Dr. 
Hammond,  or  some  other  expert  in  cerebral  illusions ; 
and  this  would  occupy  too  much  space  for  an  episode. 
It  may  be  worth  while  to  say  that  nothing  my  father 
saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  was  useful  in  confirming  his 
faith   in   a  spiritual   world.     His    assurance   in  this 
matter  was  perfect.     He  believed  that  brain  action 
(if  that  is  the  correct  expression)  was  at  times  set  up 
in  us  by  friends  no  longer  in  the  flesh,  and  that  his 
own  life  had  been  guided  by  these  mysterious  influ 
ences.     Shortly  before  his  death,  he  spoke  of  reunion 
with  those  he  had  loved,  as  men  speak  of  what  they 
know,  not  as  they  speak  of  what  they  hope  or  be 
lieve.     There  was  a  custom  connected  with  the  hos 
pitalities    of  Mt.   Vernon    in   Judge    Washington's 


246  FIGURES    OF    THE   PAST. 

time  which  is  worth  noting,  because  it  would  be 
scarcely  possible  among  persons  of  refinement  at  the 
present  day.  Guests  of  the  family  were  not  only 
conducted  to  the  tomb  of  Washington,  but  were  in 
vited  to  pass  through  its  portal,  and  to  touch  the 
receptacle  of  his  remains.  It  stood  beside  that  of 
Mrs.  Washington,  on  a  slightly  raised  platform,  other 
members  of  the  family  being  placed  against  the  sides 
of  the  sepulchre.  When  my  father  visited  the  place, 
in  1806,  the  velvet  cover  of  the  coffin  was  hanging 
in  tatters,  it  having  been  brought  to  this  condition 
by  the  assaults  of  relic-hunters.  "  Care  not  to  strip 
the  dead  of  his  sad  ornament,"  sings  my  classmate, 
Mr.  Emerson ;  and,  surely,  of  all  fetiches  with  which 
the  imagination  contrives  to  associate  the  august 
spirits  of  the  great,  such  miserable  shreds  and  patches 
are  the  most  vulgar.  But  it  is  time  to  leave  the 
Judges,  and  pass  to  a  scene  in  the  tribunal  over 
which  they  presided. 

Saturday,  the  18th  of  February,  1826,  was  an  in 
teresting  day  for  Captain  Stockton  and  his  friends. 
The  case  of  the  "  Marianna  Flora  "  had  at  length  been 
reached  by  the  Supreme  Court.  Already  opposing 
decisions  had  been  pronounced  by  lower  courts,  and 
now  the  highest  bench  would  decide  whether  Stock 
ton  was  justified  in  the  course  he  had  thought  it  right 
to  pursue.  The  facts  of  this  interesting  case,  so  far 
as  they  can  be  gathered  from  evidence  that  was 
sometimes  conflicting,  may  be  condensed  into  a  nar 
rative  something  like  this.  On  the  5th  of  November, 
1821,  the  United  States  schooner  "Alligator,"  under 


SUPREME  COURT  AND  THE  ff  MARIANNA  FLORA."        247 

the  command  of  Lieutenant  Stockton,  encountered 
the  "Marianna  Flora,"  a  Portuguese  vessel,  com 
manded  by  Captain  De  Britto,  an  elderly  officer,  who 
had  passed  many  years  of  service.  De  Britto,  sup 
posing  the  American  schooner  to  be  a  pirate  or  priva 
teer,  from  whom  an  attack  was  to  be  apprehended, 
caused  his  ship  to  lay  to  and  prepare  for  action. 
Stockton,  on  the  contrary,  observing  that  the  vessel 
carried  no  colors  to  show  her  nationality,  but  only 
a  flag  which  seemed  to  be  displayed  as  a  signal  of 
distress,  ordered  provisions  to  be  got  ready,  in  case 
they  were  needed,  and  directed  his  course  toward  the 
stranger.  He  then  went  below,  to  work  up  his  lon 
gitude,  which  he  thought  his  neighbor  might  want. 
A  ball  which  De  Britto  sent  whistling  past  the  "Alli 
gator"  soon  dissipated  these  suppositions;  and  for 
some  time  the  schooner,  although  displaying  the 
American  flag,  was  raked  by  shot,  which  her  position 
prevented  "her  from  answering.  The  wind  was  very 
light,  and  it  was  long  before  Stockton  could  obtain 
a  position  from  which  to  make  an  effective  reply  to 
the  fire  that  was  poured  upon  him.  His  guns  were 
short  pieces  of  ordnance,  called  carronades,  and  were 
useless  at  a  long  range.  When,  at  length,  the  Amer 
ican  was  in  a  position  to  return  the  cannonading 
with  effect,  the  Portuguese  color  was  suddenly  hoisted 
by  the  attacking  ship.  This  Stockton  did  not  think 
himself  bound  to  regard ;  but  proceeded  to  pour  vol 
ley  upon  volley  into  this  belligerent  stranger,  till  her 
color  came  down  quite  as  quickly  as  it  had  gone  up. 
She  had  struck  her  flag  to  the  "  Alligator,"  and  was, 


248  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

so  the  commander  considered,  his  lawful  prize.  In 
his  opinion,  De  Britto  intended  to  commit  an  act  of 
piracy,  and  wished  to  plunder  what  he  supposed  to 
be  an  unarmed  merchantman.  A  prize  crew  was  put 
on  board  the  "Marianna  Flora/'  the  sailors  of  that 
vessel  being  confined  in  irons,  and  the  order  was 
given  to  make  sail  for  Boston,  for  adjudication.  Seven 
weeks  were  consumed  in  this  winter  voyage ;  arid 
dreary  weeks  they  must  have  been  to  the  miserable 
Portuguese  mariners,  who  lay  fettered  in  the  hold. 
The  case  was  brought  before  Judge  Davis,  of  the  Dis 
trict  Court ;  the  owners  of  the  "  Marianna  Flora " 
claiming  that  Stockton  had  committed  an  unlawful 
act  and  demanding  heavy  damages.  They  brought 
evidence  which  clearly  established  the  fact  that  no 
wrong  was  intended  on  the  part  of  De  Britto.  He 
had  commenced  and  maintained  his  fire  upon  the 
"  Alligator  "  under  the  conviction  that  he  was  repel 
ling  an  enemy.  To  be  sure,  the  American  flag  had 
been  displayed  by  Stockton;  but  then  any  pirate 
might  do  that,  and  there  was  a  naval  ceremonial  of 
an  affirming  gun,  which  the  "Alligator"  was  said  to 
have  omitted.  The  decision  of  Judge  Davis  was  in 
favor  of  the  claimants.  The  act  of  Stockton  in  send 
ing  in  the  vessel,  though  perfectly  conscientious,  was 
severe  arid  unnecessary.  Damages  were  awarded  to 
the  owners  of  the  Portuguese  ship  for  the  losses  they 
sustained,  and  to  the  crew  for  their  seven  weeks  of 
captivity. 

An  appeal  was  instantly  taken,  and  the  case  was 
brought  before  the  Circuit  Court,  Judge  Story  being 


SUPREME  COURT  AND  THE  "  MARIANNA  FLORA."   249 

upon  the  bench.  The  decision  of  Judge  Davis  was 
reversed.  The  capture  being  lawful,  —  for  this  the 
lower  court  had  admitted,  —  Stockton  was  justified  in 
sending  the  "  Marianna  Flora "  to  the  United  States 
for  adjudication.  He  might  have  released  the  vessel, 
—  possibly  it  might  have  been  commendable  to  have 
done  so ;  but  he  was  not  bound  to  grant  such  release, 
and  the  whole  question  of  damages  was  disposed  of 
by  denying  this  obligation.  So  decided  Judge  Story. 
Would  the  full  Bench  confirm  that  decision,  and  so 
disperse  the  cloud  which  threatened  the  reputation 
and  fortune  of  Stockton  ?  The  question  was  one  of 
painful  interest  to  the  friends  of  this  brave  officer, 
and  I  felt  unpleasantly  nervous  when  my  travelling 
companion,  Mr.  John  Knapp,  began  to  open  the  case 
for  the  Portuguese  complainants  and  to  reflect  se 
verely  upon  the  course  of  the  commander  of  the 
"  Alligator."  George  Blake,  the  district  attorney,  re 
plied  for  Stockton,  and  (so  says  iny  journal)  surprised 
me  by  a  power  of  speech  which  I  did  not  suppose  he 
possessed.  He  had  not  finished  when  the  hour  for 
adjournment  arrived.  Early  Monday  morning  I  re 
paired  to  the  court-room,  where  I  met  Mr.  Webster 
and  Mr.  Blake,  with  their  respective  wives.  "  These 
ladies  would  come  to  hear  their  husbands  bestow 
their  dulness  upon  the  Court,"  said  Mr.  Webster  to 
me ;  "  and  now  you  shall  take  care  of  them  and  en 
tertain  them,  if  we  fail  to  do  so/'  I  was,  accordingly, 
seated  by  these  ladies,  who  took  such  creditable 
interest  in  the  arguments  that  there  was  no  occasion 
to  whisper  social  gossip  for  their  diversion.  Blake's 


250  FIGURES    OF  THE   PAST. 

close  was  even  better  than  his  opening;  and  then 
rose  Webster,  who  proceeded  against  poor  Mr.  Knapp 
with  the  confidence  of  a  giant.  "  It  is  the  aggressor" 
he  said,  —  and  the  indignant  emphasis  lie  threw  upon 
the  word  was  in  itself  an  argument,  —  "  it  is  the  ag 
gressor  who  comes  before  this  Court  masquerading  in 
the  character  of  a  plaintiff  and  asking  redress  for  a 
supposed  injury  done  to  himself."  And  then  a  pause, 
that  the  absurdity  of  the  position  of  his  antagonist 
might  sink  in  and  be  vividly  realized.  "  The  capture 
was  made  in  repelling  an  act  of  piratical  aggression, 
for  so  Lieutenant  Stockton  supposed  it  to  be;  and 
only  a  judicial  examination  could  show  that  it  might 
have  been  otherwise.  The  suffering  party  had  him 
self  furnished  the  occasion  for  any  discomfort  to 
which  he  may  have  been  subjected.  It  was  a  dam- 
num  dbsque  injuria  —  a  damage  without  a  wrong  — 
and  it  is  futile  to  pretend  that  it  was  anything  else." 
So  ran  the  drift  of  the  argument,  which  was  earnest 
and  eloquent  and  was  not  concluded  till  the  follow 
ing  day. 

The  final  appeal  for  the  plaintiffs  was  given  by 
Thomas  Addis  Emmett,  then  an  old  man  (be  died 
the  following  year),  but  full  of  Irish  fire  and  feeling. 
My  journal  declares  that  his  brogue,  which  was  very 
evident  in  the  warmer  passages,  was  a  marked  addi 
tion  to  their  force  and  eloquence.  Being  a  fellow- 
boarder  with  Mr.  Emmett,  I  had  much  conversation 
with  him.  He  had  told  me  some  of  the  romantic 
incidents  of  his  early  manhood,  which  resulted -in  his 
long  imprisonment  in  Scotland  and  had  finally  ban- 


SUPREME  COURT  AND  THE  "  MARIANNA  FLORA."   251 

ished  him  from  British  soil.  "  I  think  him  the  most 
interesting  man  of  his  age  whom  I  have  ever  seen." 
This  is  how  I  characterized  him  in  my  contemporary 
record,  after  one  of  these  free  talks.  What  a  pity,  it 
seemed  to  me,  that  he  should  be  on  the  wrong  side ; 
for  the  right  side  was,  of  course,  that  of  my  friend, 
Captain  Stockton.  But  Emmett  Avent  at  his  work, 
as  I  suppose  a  lawyer  should,  as  if  his  side  was  the 
right  side,  beyond  all  question.  He  began  by  laying 
down  the  proposition  that  every  ship  navigating  the 
ocean  in  time  of  peace  might  appropriate  to  her 
temporary  use  so  much  of  its  waters  as  she  deemed 
necessary  for  her  protection.  He  drew  a  lively  pic 
ture  of  the  pirates  which  infested  the  seas,  and  de 
clared  that,  if  the  right  to  approach  in  invitum  were 
allowed,  merchantmen  might  as  well  be  broken  up 
for  firewood.  The  conduct  of  the  "  Marianna  Flora  " 
was  justifiable.  The  first  fault  was  committed  by 
the  "Alligator,"  in  not  following  the  raising  of  her 
flag  with  an  affirming  gun ;  and  then  in  approaching 
the  stranger  against  her  consent.  After  the  capture 
the  ship's  papers  should  have  shown  Stockton  that 
his  prize  was  an  inncfcent  merchantman,  —  armed, 
indeed,  against  pirates,  but  armed  for  no  purposes 
of  aggression.  In  substance  this  was  the  amount  of 
the  plea  for  the  plaintiffs.  The  wealth  of  illustra 
tion  by  which  it  was  embellished  and  the  earnest 
and  hearty  rhetoric  of  the  advocate  there  was  no 
phonograph  to  preserve. 

The  opinion  of  the  Court  was  pronounced  by  Judge 
Story,  some  weeks  afterward,  and  may  be  read  in  the 


252  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

eleventh  volume  of  "  Wheaton's  Reports."     It  vindi 
cated   Captain  Stockton.     Mr.  Emmett's  doctrine  of 
non-approach  was  pronounced  novel  and  unsupported 
by  authority.     While  every  vessel  had  the  right  to 
use  so  much  of  the  ocean  as  was  essential  to  her 
movements,  no  exclusive  right  beyond  this  could  be 
recognized.     A  ship-of-war,  like  the  "  Alligator,"  sail 
ing  under  the  authority  of  the  government,  might 
approach  any  vessel  descried  at  sea,  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  her  real  character.     The  Court  denied 
that  the  mere  fact  of  approach  excused  the  hostile 
attack  of   De  Britto.     He  had  said  that  he  lay  to 
in  order  to  meet  a  supposed  enemy  by  daylight  and 
because  he  dreaded  the  peril  of  a  night  attack ;  but 
all  this  could  not  have  been  known  to  Stockton,  who 
was  acting  from  a  humane  motive  and  in  the  line  of 
his  duty.     He  was  justified  in  taking  possession  of 
the   "Marianmi    Flora,"    because   she   attacked   him 
without  cause  or  provocation. 

This  opinion  delighted   me  at  the  time;   to  the 
friends  of  Stockton  it  fully  vindicated  the  wisdom  of 
the  Court  and  the  beneficence  of  the  law  which  it 
expounded ;  but  in  re-reading  it  to-day,  I  find  at  one 
point  a  lack  of  equity  which,  if  the  Court  was  power 
less  to  prevent,  might   at   least  have  been  noticed 
with  regret.     How  fared  it  with  those  unhappy  sail 
ors  who,  through  no  fault  of  theirs,  had  made  a  seven 
weeks'  voyage  in  irons  and  to  whom  the  District 
Court  had  mercifully  awarded  five  hundred  dollars  ? 
Surely,  if  justice  was  to  be  wrought  among  men,  these 
unfortunates   had   claims    upon  somebody;   but  the 


SUPREME  COURT  AND  THE  "MARIANNE  FLORA."      253 

learned  judge  remarked  that  in  their  case  no  privilege 
of  appeal  was  allowed,  because  the  sum  of  five  hun 
dred  dollars  was  insufficient  to  entitle  the  parties  in 
interest  to  be  heard  before  the  Supreme  Bench.  A 
mere  bagatelle,  truly  !  Only  a  fraction  of  what  Croe 
sus  might  spend  for  a  single  evening  of  festivity,  yet 
possibly  as  important  to  those  roughly  used  mariners 
as  the  larger  stakes  which  opened  the  courts  to  the 
capitalists,  their  employers.  It  is  no  disrespect  to 
the  majesty  of  the  law  to  mention  that  it  has  not  yet 
sloughed  off  all  its  barbarisms.  So  long  as  the  pun 
ishment  of  a  money  fine  is  accepted  from  the  rich 
and  the  alternative  imprisonment  is  exacted  from  the 
poor,  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law  is  but  a 
sounding  phrase.  As  for  those  Portuguese  fellows 
fettered  in  the  hold,  they  ought  to  have  known  that 
their  sad  plight  was  only  a  damnum  absque  injuria  ; 
and  when  they  were  prevented  from  following  their 
masters  to  the  highest  court,  they  should  have  con 
soled  themselves  with  that  sage  morsel  of  law  Latin, 
De  minimis  non  curat  lex. 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN  1826. 


I. 


TT\R  HOLMES  has  declared,  with  all  the  solemnity 
-*-^  of  verse,  that,  for  reasons  which  to  him  are  good 
and  sufficient,  he  never  dares  to  write  as  funny  as  he 
can.  Following  so  excellent  a  precedent,  I  will  con 
fess  that  I  do  not  mean  to  make  this  paper  on  the 
social  life  in  Washington  as  entertaining  as  I  could. 
For  hasty  gossip  and  uncharitable  strictures  upon  in 
dividuals  (such  as  a  young  fellow  may  set  down  in  a 
journal  intended  for  no  eyes  but  his  own)  are  cer 
tainly  amusing ;  but  their  publication,  either  by  the 
writer  or  his  executors,  is,  as  it  seems  to  me,  almost 
never  justifiable.  The  mention  of  the  names  of  ladies, 
even  when  one  has  nothing  but  what  is  pleasant  to 
say  of  them,  is  only  to  be  sanctioned  by  a  certain 
unwritten  statute  of  limitations,  which,  after  the 
lapse  of  half  a  century,  seems  to  allow  a  certain  dis 
cretion  in  this  particular.  It  will,  however,  be  neces 
sary  to  make  but  few  reservations  in  telling  what  I 
saw  in  Washington  society  in  1826. 

And  first  come  the  dinners.  On  Friday,  February 
17,  I  find  an  account  of  a  dinner  at  Mr.  Webster's. 
The  occasion  was  absolutely  informal  and  very  pleas- 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN   1826.  255 

ant.  Besides  myself,  Henry  R  Storrs,  of  New  York, 
and  Kufus  Greene  Arnory,  of  Boston,  were  the  only 
guests.  Webster  carved  the  beef  and  was  in  a  charm 
ing  humor.  He  told  some  good  lawyer's  stories,  and 
gave  us  a  graphic  account  of  the  burning  of  his  house 
in  Portsmouth,  in  the  winter  of  1813.  "  Though  I 
was  in  Washington  at  the  time,"  he  said,  "  I  believe 
I  know  more  about  the  fire  than  many  who  were 
actively  at  work  on  the  spot.  Besides,  here  is  Mrs. 
Webster,  who  was  burned  out.  She  will  correct  me 
if  I  am  wrong."  He  told  us  that  all  he  possessed  in 
the  world  was  lost,  there  being  no  insurance  upon 
house  or  furniture ;  but  as  more  than  two  hundred 
buildings  were  consumed  in  the  fire,  some  of  them 
belonging  to  those  less  able  to  make  a  living  than 
himself,  he  felt  he  had  no  right  to  murmur.  He  was, 
nevertheless,  troubled  about  the  loss  of  his  library. 
His  books  were  full  of  notes  and  associations,  and 
could  not  be  replaced. 

"  I  think  there  was  something  in  the  house  which 
Mr.  Webster  regretted  more  than  his  books,"  said  his 
wife,  with  an  amused  expression,  which  showed  her 
remark  was  not  to  be  taken  quite  seriously.  "  There 
was  a  pipe  of  wine  in  the  cellar,  and  I  am  sure  that 
Mr.  Webster's  philosophy  has  not  yet  reconciled  him 
to  its  loss.  You  see  we  were  young  housekeepers  in 
those  days.  It  was  the  first  pipe  of  wine  we  ever 
had,  and  the  getting  it  was  a  great  event." 

"  Let  us  be  accurate,  my  dear,"  said  Mr.  Webster, 
with  one  of  those  pleasant  smiles  of  his  which  fairly 
lit  up  the  room.  "  Undoubtedly  it  was  a  pipe  of  wine 


256  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

when  we  bought  it ;  but  then  it  had  been  on  tap  for 
some  time,  and  our  table  was  not  without  guests.  If 
I  had  you  upon  the  witness  stand,  I  think  I  should 
make  you  confess  that  your  pipe  of  wine  could 
scarcely  have  been  more  than  half  a  pipe  at  the  time 
of  the  fire." 

I  suppose  that  there  was  nothing  said  at  that  din 
ner  so  little  worth  preserving  as  this  trifling  family 
jest ;  yet  the  sweet  and  playful  manner  of  Webster 
has  fixed  it  indelibly  upon  my  memory.  That  manner 
I  cannot  give,  and  it  was  everything.  It  somehow 
carried  one  of  those  aside  confessions  of  the  absolute 
affection  and  confidence  existing  between  this  married 
pair  which  were  so  evident  to  those  admitted  beneath 
their  roof.  A  congenial  marriage  seems  to  be  essen 
tial  to  the  best  development  of  a  man  of  genius,  and 
this  blessing  rested  upon  that  household.  It  was  like 
organ-music  to  hear  Webster  speak  to  or  of  the  being 
upon  whom  his  affections  reposed,  arid  whom,  alas ! 
he  was  so  soon  to  lose.  I  am  sure  that  those  who 
knew  the  man  only  when  this  tenderest  relation  had 
been  terminated  by  death,  never  knew  him  in  his 
perfect  symmetry.  Whatever  evil-speakers  might 
choose  to  say  about  the  subsequent  career  of  Daniel 
Webster,  he  was  at  that  time  "  whole  as  the  marble, 
founded  as  the  rock."  He  was  on  the  happiest  terms 
with  the  world,  which  had  crowned  him  with  its 
choicest  blessing,  and  stood  forth  in  all  respects  as  an 
example  and  a  hero  among  men. 

I  will  repeat  an  anecdote  which  I  think  that  Web 
ster  gave  at  that  dinner,  though,  as  I  made  no  note 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN   1826.  257 

of  it,  it  is  just  possible  that  he  told  it  in  my  presence 
at  some  later  date.  The  conversation  was  running 
upon  the  importance  of  doing  small  things  thoroughly 
and  with  the  full  measure  of  one's  ability.  This 
Webster  illustrated  by  an  account  of  some  petty  in 
surance  case  that  was  brought  to  him  when  a  you  no- 
lawyer  in  Portsmouth.  Only  a  small  amount  was 
involved,  and  a  twenty-dollar  fee  was  all  that  was 
promised.  He  saw  that,  to  do  his  clients  full  justice, 
a  journey  to  Boston,  to  consult  the  Law  Library" 
would  be  desirable.  He  would  be  out  of  pocket  by 
such  an  expedition,  and  for  his  time  he  would  receive 
no  adequate  compensation.  After  a  little  hesitation, 
he  determined  to  do  his  very  best,  cost  what  it  might. 
He  accordingly  went  to  Boston,  looked  up  the  au 
thorities,  and  gained  the  case.  Years  after  this, 
Webster,  then  famous,  was  passing  through  New 
York.  An  important  insurance  case  was  to  be  tried 
the  day  after  his  arrival,  and  one  of  the  counsel  had 
been  suddenly  taken  ill.  Money  was  no  object,  and 
Webster  was  begged  to  name  his  terms  and  conduct 
the  case.  "  I  told  them,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "  that  it 
was  preposterous  to  expect  me  to  prepare  a  legal  ar 
gument  at  a  few  hours'  notice.  They  insisted,  how 
ever,  that  I  should  look  at  the  papers;  and  this,  after 
some  demur,  I  consented  to  do.  Well,  it  was  my  old 
twenty-dollar  case  over  again,  and,  as  I  never  forget 
anything,  I  had  all  the  authorities  at  my  fingers' 
ends.  The  court  knew  that  I  had  no  time  to  pre 
pare,  and  were  astonished  at  the  range  of  my  acquire 
ments.  So,  you  see,  I  was  handsomely  paid  both  in 

17 


258  FIGUKES   OF   THE    PAST. 

fame  and  money  for  that  journey  to  Boston ;  and  the 
moral  is,  that  good  work  is  rewarded  in  the  end, 
though,  to  be  sure,  one's  own  self-approval  should  be 
enough." 

I  may  be  pardoned  for  taking  from  my  journal  of 
later  date  another  after-dinner  story  which  I  heard 
Mr.  Webster  tell  with  great  dramatic  effect.  One  of 
the  party  mentioned  that  a  president  of  one  of  the 
Boston  banks  had  that  morning  redeemed  a  counter 
feit  bill  for  fifty  dollars,  never  doubting  that  his  signa 
ture  upon  it  was  genuine.  This  incident  led  to  a 
discussion  of  the  value  of  expert  testimony  in  regard 
to  writing,  the  majority  of  our  company  holding  it  in 
little  esteem.  Mr.  Webster  then  came  to  the  defence 
of  this  sort  of  testimony,  saying  that  he  had  found  it 
of  much  value,  although  experts  were  like  children 
who  saw  more  than  they  were  able  to  explain  to 
others.  "  And  this  reminds  me,"  he  said, "  of  my  story 
of  the  tailor.  It  was  a  capital  case  that  was  being 
tried,  and  the  tailor's  testimony  was  very  important. 
He  had  been  called  to  prove  that  he  made  a  certain 
coat  for  the  criminal ;  and  he  swore  to  the  fact  stoutly. 
Upon  cross-examination  he  was  asked  how  he  knew 
that  the  coat  was  his  work.  '  Why,  I  know  it  by  my 
stitches,  of  course.'  '  Are  your  stitches  longer  than 
those  of  other  tailors  ? '  '  Oh,  no  ! '  '  Well,  then,  are 
they  shorter  ? '  '  Not  a  bit  shorter.'  '  Anything  pe 
culiar  about  them  ? '  '  Well,  I  don't  believe  there  is.' 
'  Then  how  do  you  dare  to  come  here  and  swear  that 
they  are  yours  ? '  This  seemed  to  be  a  poser,  but 
the  witness  met  it  triumphantly.  Casting  a  look  of 


WASHINGTON    SOCIETY  IN   1826.  259 

contempt  upon  his  examiner,  the  tailor  raised  both 
hands  to  heaven  and  exclaimed,  '  Good  Lord  !  as  if  I 
didn't  know  my  own  stitches!'  The  jury  believed 
him,  and  they  were  right  in  doing  so.  The  fact  is, 
we  continually  build  our  judgment  upon  details  too 
fine  for  distinct  cognizance.  And  these  nice  shades 
of  sensibility  are  trustworthy,  although  we  can  give 
no  good  account  of  them.  We  can  swear  to  our 
stitches,  notwithstanding  they  seem  to  be  neither 
longer  nor  shorter  than  those  of  other  people." 

I  had  been  listening  to  Mr.  Storrs  that  morning,  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  where  he  greatly  dis 
tinguished  himself,  as  I  shall  hereafter  have  occasion 
to  notice  ;  but  if  he  said  anything  at  the  dinner,  I 
find  no  reference  to  it  in  my  notes.  Mr.  Amory  seems 
to  have  made  more  impression  upon  me,  and  I  men 
tion  the  amusing  account  he  gave  of  his  adventures 
on  the  road  from  New  York  ;  for  there  were  adven 
tures  ere  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  packing  travellers 
like  herrings  in  a  box,  and  thus  making  their  experi 
ences  as  identical  as  are  those  of  the  fishes  so  trans 
ported.  Mr.  Amory  had  undertaken  the  journey  on 
horseback,  and  had  fallen  among  highwaymen,  who 
were  as  high-toned  and  chivalrous  as  those  of  the  dime 
novel.  They  took  his  money,  indeed,  and  bound  him 
to  a  tree ;  but  these  acts  seem  to  have  been  strictly 
professional,  and  he  told  how  the  thieves  regretted, 
with  abundant  courtesy,  that  they  were  compelled  to 
put  an  old  gentleman  to  any  inconvenience.  "  I  an 
old  gentleman  ! "  exclaimed  the  narrator.  "  Could  not 
the  fellows  have  been  content  with  theft,  without 


260  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

adding  libel  ?  "  And  the  merry  old  soul  led  off  a  con 
tagious  laugh  at  his  own  pleasantry.  How  the  bonds 
of  Mr.  Amory  were  finally  loosed  my  journal  does 
not  chronicle,  so  I  must  leave  him  tied  to  the  tree, 
confident  that  a  reader  of  the  slightest  imagination 
will  find  some  good  way  to  release  him,  and  to  bring 
him  safely  to  Mr.  Webster's  dinner-table. 

I  dined  twice  at  the  White  House ;  the  first  time 
informally,  with  Charles  King  and  Albert  Gallatin. 
The  latter  gentleman  scarcely  said  anything,  owing, 
perhaps,  to  the  constant  and  amusing  utterances  of  the 
President  and  Mr.  King,  who  talked  as  if  they  were 
under  bonds  to  furnish  entertainment  for  the  party. 
The  next  occasion  was  a  state  dinner,  of  forty  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  very  splendid  and  rather  stiff.  My 
place  was  next  a  pretty  Miss  Bullett,  of  Kentucky ; 
but,  to  say  the  truth,  the  conversation  rather  dragged 
between  us,  until  I  discovered  that  we  had  a  mutual 
friend  in  Larz  Anderson,  of  Cincinnati.  I  had  known 
Larz  well  in  college,  and  remember  when  he  arrived 
in  Cambridge,  a  small,  flaxen-haired  boy,  accompanied 
by  two  companions  from  the  distant  West.  They 
had  come  all  the  way  from  Kentucky  on  horseback, 
their  effects  being  borne  in  saddle-bags  behind  the 
riders.  There  was  no  public  conveyance,  the  roads 
were  execrable,  and  this  manly  mode  of  travelling 
was  then  the  only  way  of  getting  to  Harvard.  Now, 
I  happened  to  have  a  story  to  tell  about  our  friend 
Anderson,  which  I  felt  sure  would  gratify  the  pride 
of  a  Kentuckian ;  and  as  I  have  not  recorded  a  word 
of  what  my  fair  neighbor  said  to  me,  I  can  only  fall 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN   1826.  261 

back  upon  what  I  said  to  her,  and  the  substance  of 
my  tale  might  be  written  out  thus  :  — 

Oxford  Street,  in  Cambridge,  is  at  present  a  very 
decorous  thoroughfare,  not  at  all  adapted  to  the  wild 
sport  of  turkey-shooting,  for  which  purpose  the  ground 
it  occupies  was  used  when  I  was  in  college.  We 
stood  with  our  backs  to  the  site  of  Memorial  Hall, 
and  discharged  rifles,  at  long  range,  at  a  turkey  which 
was  dimly  discernible  in  the  distance.  A  small  fee 
was  demanded  for  the  privilege  of  shooting,  and  the 
turkey  was  to  be  given  to  any  one  who  could  hit  it. 
But,  except  for  some  chance  shot,  like  that  made  by 
Mr.  Tupman  when  out  rook-shooting,  it  was  safe  to 
predict  that  nobody  would  hit  it.  The  usual  end  of 
a  Harvard  turkey-shooting  was  the  departure  of  the 
proprietor  of  the  turkeys  with  all  his  birds  and  all 
our  sixpences.  Still  there  was  the  excitement  of  a 
lottery  about  it,  if  nothing  else.  The  ball,  if  dis 
charged,  must  strike  somewhere ;  and,  if  so,  why 
might  it  not  happen  to  strike  the  tuikey  ?  The  logic 
was  simply  irresistible.  A  fowl  of  that  magnitude 
would  be  a  most  desirable  addition  to  the  meagre  fare 
furnished  by  the  college  commons ;  and  so  the  rifles 
cracked,  with  small  result  to  the  students  and  splen 
did  profits  to  the  turkey-man.  One  day  a  little  tow- 
headed  fellow  appeared  on  the  field,  and  desired  to 
take  part  in  the  sport.  Though  he  seemed  almost 
too  young  to  be  trusted  with  a  rifle,  the  master  of 
the  fowls  (foreseeing  future  gains)  was  quite  willing 
lie  should  try.  He  must  first  receive  proper  instruc 
tions  about  the  holding  and  pointing  of  his  piece,  and 


262  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

then  there  would  really  be  no  danger.  Young  Larz 
received  the  directions  with  great  good  nature,  raised 
the  rifle,  and  down  went  the  turkey.  The  man  stared 
in  amazement,  and  then  broke  into  a  smile.  "  Try  it 
again,  young  one,"  said  he.  "  'Most  any  one  can 
throw  sixes  once,  you  know."  Another  bird  was 
procured,  the  ball  flew  to  the  mark  with  the  same 
result,  and  a  second  turkey  was  added  to  the  ban 
quet  upon  which  his  friends  would  regale.  "  Well, 
where  in  "  —  the  United  States,  let  us  call  it  —  "  did 
you  come  from  ?  "  exclaimed  the  master  of  fowls,  who 
began  to  realize  that  his  occupation  was  gone. 

"I  came  from  the  State  of  Kentucky,  sir,"  answered 
Larz  Anderson,  proudly ;  "  and  next  time  you  meet  a 
gentleman  from  that  State,  just  remember  there's  not 
much  you  can  tell  him  about  a  rifle.  That 's  all." 

And  thus  it  was  that  our  good  friend  Anderson 
broke  the  ice  between  pretty  Miss  Bullett  and  myself 
at  that  solemn  dinner  of  high  state,  fifty-five  years 
ago.  I  suppose  the  other  eight-and-thirty  people 
found  something  to  say ;  but  it  is  evident  they  were 
not  talking  for  posterity.  Neither  their  words  nor 
their  names  appear  in  my  journal.  That  record  only 
makes  it  evident  that  a  state  banquet  of  the  period 
was,  in  a  general  way,  a  frigid  affair,  but  was  capa 
ble,  nevertheless,  of  considerable  mitigation  if  one 
were  well  launched  in  conversation  with  a  fair  young 
lady  from  Kentucky. 

I  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  the  Vice-President, 
who,  contrary  to  custom,  had  come  up  to  the  capital 
and  was  actually  doing  the  work  of  his  place.  The 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN   1826.  263 

usage  had  been  for  the  holders  of  this  office  to  stay 
quietly  at  home,  draw  their  salaries,  and  allow  some 
senator  to  preside  in  the  Upper  House.  But  Calhoun 
proclaimed  that  he  would  receive  no  emoluments 
from  an  office  without  assuming  its  responsibilities, 
and,  whether  constrained  by  this  just  sentiment  or  to 
look  sharply  after  his  political  fortunes,  had  estab 
lished  himself  at  the  capital  and  was  one  of  its  prin 
cipal  figures.  He  was  a  striking-looking  man,  then 
forty-four  years  old,  with  thick  hair,  brushed  back 
defiantly.  He  had  joined  the  bitter  opposition  to 
the  administration ;  and  though  his  position  pre 
vented  him  from  publicly  assaulting  the  President, 
he  ruled  that  John  Randolph  was  not  to  be  called  to 
order  for  so  doing.  Mr.  Calhoun,  with  the  foresight 
of  a  politician,  was  accustomed  to  make  himself 
agreeable  to  young  men  appearing  in  Washington 
who  might  possibly  rise  to  influence  in  their  respec 
tive  communities.  It  was  probably  with  a  view  to 
such  a  contingency  that  he  favored  me  with  a  long 
dissertation  upon  public  affairs.  He  never  alluded 
to  the  subject  of  slavery,  though  it  was  easy  to  see 
that  reference  to  this  interest  shaped  his  opinions 
about  tariffs,  state  rights,  internal  improvements,  and 
other  questions,  with  which,  on  the  surface,  it  had 
small  connection.  The  concluding  words  of  this  ag 
gressive  Democrat  made  an  ineffaceable  impression 
upon  my  mind.  They  were  pronounced  in  a  subdued 
tone  of  esoteric  confidence,  such  as  an  ancient  augur 
might  have  used  to  a  neophyte  in  his  profession. 
Substantially  they  were  these :  "  Now,  from  what  I 


264  FIGURES   OF   THE    PAST. 

have  said  to  you,  I  think  you  will  see  that  the  in 
terests  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  North  and  those  of  the 
South  are  identical."  I  can  quote  no  utterance  more 
characteristic  of  the  political  Washington  of  twenty- 
six  than  this.  The  inference  was  that  the  "  fflitterin"1 

o  o 

generalizations  "  of  the  Declaration  were  never  meant 
to  be  taken  seriously.  Gentlemen  were  the  natural 
rulers  of  America,  after  all.  It  has  taken  all  the  suc 
ceeding  half-century  to  reach  a  vital  belief  that  the 
people,  and  not  gentlemen  (using  the  word,  of  course, 
in  its  common  and  narrow  sense),  are  to  govern  this 
country.  It  will  take  much  more  than  another  half- 
century  before  the  necessary  and  (in  the  end)  benefi 
cent  consequences  of  this  truth  shall  be  fully  realized. 
I  may  here  mention  that  I  have  rarely  met  a  lady  so 
skilful  in  political  discussion  as  was  Miss  Calhoun, 
the  daughter  of  the  Vice-President.  I  do  not  feel 
certain  that  it  was  during  this  visit  to  the  capital 
that  I  made  her  acquaintance,  —  it  may  have  been  at 
a  subsequent  period  ;  but  I  well  remember  the  clear 
ness  with  which  she  presented  the  Southern  view  of 
the  situation,  and  the  ingenuity  with  which  she 
parried  such  objections  as  I  was  able  to  present. 
The  fashionable  ladies  of  the  South  had  received  the 
education  of  political  thought  and  discussion  to  a 
degree  unknown  among  their  sisters  of  the  North. 
"She  can  read  bad  French  novels  and  play  a  few 
tunes  on  the  piano,"  said  a  cynical  friend  of  mine 
concerning  a  young  lady  who  had  completed  the 
costly  education  of  a  fashionable  school  in  New 
York ;  "  but,  upon  my  word,  she  does  not  know 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN    1526.  265 

whether  she  is  living  in  a  monarchy  or  a  republic." 
The  sneer  would  never  have  applied  to  the  corre 
sponding  class  at  the  South.  These  ladies  were 
conversant  with  political  theories,  and  held  definite 
political  opinions.  Yes,  and  they  had  the  courage 
of  their  opinions  too,  as  the  war  abundantly  testi 
fied. 

One  of  the  pleasantest  dinners  that  I  attended  in 
Washington  took  place  at  Miss  Hyer's  boarding- 
house.  It  was  given  by  the  gentlemen  lodgers,  who, 
by  a  small  subscription,  added  a  few  dishes  to  the 
ordinary  bill  of  fare.  Mr.  Webster  and  Senator  Mills, 
of  Massachusetts,  were  among  the  guests,  and  when, 
after  the  removal  of  the  cloth,  some  Bordeaux  wine 
was  added  to  the  customary  Madeira,  the  conversation 
was  easy  and  animated.  It  was  Mr.  Webster's  say 
ing  that  dinners  were  agreeable  in  inverse  ratio  to 
their  state  and  formality,  and  on  this  occasion  he 
certainly  proved  that  French  coo*king  and  cut-glass 
were  no  necessary  adjuncts  to  a  brilliant  party. 

For  the  benefit  of  younger  readers,  it  may  be  well 
to  mention  that  the  use  of  wine  and  spirit  was  practi 
cally  universal  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking. 
Nobody  thought  it  possible  to  dine  without  one  or 
the  other.  At  the  boarding-houses  and  hotels  every 
guest  had  his  bottle  or  his  interest  in  a  bottle.  In 
the  early  days  of  the  Sound  steamers,  decanters  of 
brandy,  free  to  all,  were  placed  upon  the  table,  as 
part  of  the  provision  necessary  for  a  meal.  What 
a  beneficent  change  in  public  sentiment  has  been 
wrought !  Much  as  yet  remains  to  be  done,  the  ad- 


266  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

vocates  of  temperance  should  be  full  of  courage,  by 
remembering  what  has  been  accomplished. 

As  the  present  paper  has  had  so  much  concern 
with  Mr.  Webster,  1  will  conclude  it  by  giving  an 
incident  which  occurred  some  years  afterward,  and 
which  will  show  the  overwhelming  effect  which  his 
mere  personal  presence  wrought  upon  men.  The 
route  between  Boston  and  New  York  by  the  way  of 
New  Haven  had  just  been  opened,  and  I  was  occu 
pying  a  seat  with  Mr.  Webster  when  the  cars  stopped 
at  the  latter  city.  Mr.  Webster  was  not  quite  well, 
and,  saying  that  he  thought  it  would  be  prudent  to 
take  some  brandy,  asked  me  to  accompany  him  in 
search  of  it.  We  accordingly  entered  a  bar-room 
near  the  station,  and  the  order  was  given.  The  at 
tendant,  without  looking  at  his  customer,  mechani 
cally  took  a  decanter  from  a  shelf  behind  him  and 
placed  it  near  some  glasses  on  the  counter.  Just  as 
Webster  was  about  to  help  himself,  the  bar-tender, 
happening  to  look  up,  started,  as  if  he  had  seen  a 
spirit,  and  cried  "  Stop  ! "  with  great  vehemence.  He 
then  took  tbe  decanter  from  Webster's  hand,  replaced 
it  on  the  shelf  whence  it  came,  and  disappeared 
beneath  the  counter.  Rising  from  these  depths,  he 
bore  to  the  surface  an  old-fashioned  black  bottle, 
which  he  substituted  for  the  decanter.  Webster 
poured  a  small  quantity  into  a  glass,  drank  it  off 
with  great  relish,  and  threw  down  half  a  dollar  in 
payment.  The  bar-keeper  began  to  fumble  in  a 
drawer  of  silver,  as  if  selecting  some  smaller  pieces  for 
change;  whereupon  Webster  waved  his  hand  with 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN  1826.  267 

dignity,  and  with  rich  and  authoritative  tones  pro 
nounced  these  words :  "  My  good  friend,  let  me  offer 
you  a  piece  of  advice.  Whenever  you  give  that  good 
brandy  from  under  the  counter,  never  take  the  trou 
ble  to  make  change."  As  we  turned  to  go  out,  the 
dealer  in  liquors  placed  one  hand  upon  the  bar,  threw 
himself  over  it,  and  caught  me  by  the  arm.  "  Tell 
me  who  that  man  is ! "  he  cried  with  genuine  emo 
tion.  "  He  is  Daniel  Webster,"  I  answered.  The 
man  paused,  as  if  to  find  words  adequate  to  convey 
the  impression  made  upon  him,  and  then  exclaimed 
in  a  fervent  half-whisper,  "  By  Heaven,  sir,  that  man 
should  be  President  of  the  United  States  !  "  The  ad 
juration  was  stronger  than  I  have  written  it;  but  it 
was  not  uttered  profanely,  —  it  was  simply  the  em 
phasis  of  an  overpowering  conviction.  The  incident 
was  but  a  straw  upon  the  current ;  but  it  illustrates 
the  commanding  magnetism  of  Webster.  Without 
asking  the  reason,  men  once  subjected  to  his  spell 
were  compelled  to  love,  to  honor,  and  (so  some  cynics 
would  wish  to  add)  to  forgive  him.  No  man  of  mark 
ever  satisfied  the  imagination  so  completely.  The 
young  men  of  to-day  who  go  to  Washington  find  a 
city  of  luxurious  appointments  and  noble  buildings, 
very  different  from  the  capital  of  muddy  streets  and 
scattered  houses  with  which  I  was  familiar.  But 
where  is  the  living  figure,  cast  in  heroic  mould,  to 
represent  the  ideal  of  American  manhood  ?  Can  the 
capital  of  to-day  show  anything  so  majestic  and  in 
spiring  as  was  Daniel  Webster  in  the  Washington  of 
1826? 


268  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 


II. 


THE  evening  parties  of  Washington  were  the  social 
features  of  the  place  at  the  time  of  my  visit.  The 
company  assembled  about  eight,  and  began  to  break 
up  shortly  after  eleven,  having  enjoyed  the  recrea 
tions  of  dancing,  card-playing,  music,  or  conversation. 
Everybody  in  the  city  who  occupied  the  necessary 
social  position  appeared  at  these  gatherings ;  and,  be 
ing  at  the  age  when  the  tinsel  of  Vanity  Fair  is  at  its 
full  glitter,  I  enjoyed  them  highly.  My  first  Wash 
ington  party  was  at  Mrs.  Wirt's,  where  I  was  taken 
as  a  stranger  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webster.  My  journal 
mentions  the  ladies  who  impressed  me  sufficiently 
to  appear  in  its  record.  I  talked,  it  seems,  with  Miss 
Henry,  a  descendant  of  the  Virginian  orator  ;  and  with 
Miss  Wirt,  the  daughter  of  the  house.  Both  these 
ladies  impressed  me  very  favorably,  and  1  tell  how 
the  former  played  finely  upon  the  piano  and  harp  and 
sang  simple  songs,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  guests. 
Mrs.  David  Hoffman,  of  Baltimore,  I  describe  as 
"  pretty,  learned,  and  agreeable."  With  her  I  have  a 
brief  talk,  and  am  then  presented  to  a  lady  whose 
beauty  was  the  admiration  of  Washington  and  whose 
name  was,  consequently,  upon  every  tongue,  —  at 
least  something  like  her  name  ;  for  society  had  de 
creed  that  this  fair  woman  should  be  known  as  Mrs. 
Florida  White,  her  husband  being  a  delegate  from  our 
most  southern  territory.  And  splendid  in  her  beauty 
Mrs.  White  undoubtedly  was,  and  it  was  only  natural 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN  1826  269 

that  the  impressible  young  gentleman  from  Boston 
should  feel  highly  gratified  when  she  proposed  to 
promenade  the  rooms  with  him,  and  that  he  should 
emphasize  this  fortunate  circumstance  in  the  account 
he  gives  of  Mrs.  Wirt's  party. 

Next  conies  my  notice  of  a  ball,  at  which  I  first  saw 
a  lady  who  at  that  period  was  the  acknowledged  chief 
of  the  elegant  and  fashionable  young  women  of  our 
country. 

"  February  16,  1826. — 1  spent  this  evening  at  a 
ball  given  by  Mrs.  Johnston,  of  Louisiana.  I  was  to 
have  gone  there  with  Everett ;  but  the  death  of  his 
brother  prevented  him  from  appearing.  Accordingly 
I  accompanied  Mr.  Cheves,  and  found  a  crowd  in 
comparison  with  which  all  other  crowds  that  I  have 
experienced  sink  into  nothing.  We  were  jammed  so 
closely  that  it  was  impossible  to  see  the  faces  of  those 
who  stood  at  our  sides.  I  had  a  striking  exemplifica 
tion  of  this  fact  by  finding  a  lady  hanging  upon  my 
arm  who  was  unable  to  look  up  to  see  who  I  was.  I, 
on  my  part,  exerted  all  my  skill  in  craniology  in  a 
vain  attempt  to  discover  who  she  might  be.  It  was 
only  after  a  considerable  time  that  we  made  each 
other  out.  The  lady  proved  to  be  a  Mrs.  Atkinson, 
from  Louisville,  and  a  good  lauGfh  we  had  together  on 

o  O  O 

discovering  the  mistake.  As  there  was  no  dancing, 
I  contented  myself  with  moving  in  the  current  round 
the  room,  first  conducting  Mrs.  White,  and  afterward 
Mrs.  Hoffman.  By  the  latter  lady  I  was  introduced 
to  Miss  Cora  Livingston  ;  and  I  must  be  able  to  paint 
the  rose  to  describe  a  lady  who  undoubtedly  is  the 


270  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

greatest  belle  in  the  United  States.  In  the  first 
place,  she  is  not  handsome,  —  I  mean  not  transcen- 
dently  handsome.  She  has  a  fine  figure,  a  pretty  face, 
dances  well,  and  dresses  to  admiration.  It  is  the 
height  of  the  ton  to  be  her  admirer,  and  she  is  cer 
tainly  the  belle  of  the  country.  Mrs.  Livingston,  the 
mother,  is  a  fine-looking  woman,  extremely  polite  and 
well-bred.  She  seems  to  be  wholly  absorbed  in  her 
daughter,  and  is  constantly  watching  her  movements." 
I  suppress  much  that  might  be  said  about  my  ac 
quaintance  with  this  charming  Miss  Cora.  That  I 
was  greatly  fascinated  with  her  my  journal  confesses 
upon  nearly  every  page.  I  called  on  her  betimes  the 
morning  after  Mrs.  Johnston's  ball  (I  had  fortunately 
letters  to  her  father),  attended  her  to  other  balls,  vis 
ited  her  frequently,  arid  was  fairly  to  be  numbered  in 
her  large  circle  of  admirers.  At  the  public  ball  at 
Carracci's  Assembly  Eooms,  where  all  "Washington 
was  present,  I  note  my  gratification  in  the  honor  done 
me  by  Miss  Cora  in  reserving  for  me  the  first  cotillon, 
and  add  that,  "  as  a  matter  of  course,  every  one  gath 
ered  about  our  set,  to  admire  the  grace  of  my  fair 
partner."  And,  the  dance  being  finished,  I  tell  how  I 
walked  about  the  room  with  her,  and  how  she  gra 
ciously  introduced  me  to  several  of  the  lesser  beau 
ties.  "  And  now,"  said  she,  "  I  am  going  to  perform 
one  of  the  greatest  acts  of  heroism  of  which  a  woman 
can  be  capable.  I  am  going  to  present  you  to  my 
rival."  So  saying,  Miss  Cora  divided  a  group  of  gen 
tlemen,  who  had  gathered  about  Miss  Catherine  Van 
Rensselaer,  of  Albany,  —  "a  tall,  genteel  girl,"  says 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN   1826.  271 

my  journal  laconically,  "  and  said  to  have  a  fine  mind 
and  a  rich  father."  This  lady,  it  appears,  was  consid 
ered  a  belle  who  might  possibly  compete  with  Miss 
Livingston ;  but  if  I  did  not  warmly  protest  against 
the  possibility  of  the  rivalship  that  was  hinted  at,  I 
was  far  less  enthralled  with  this  latter  lady  than  the 
evidence  before  me  seems  to  indicate.  I  puzzled  that 
night  over  the  mystery  of  the  attraction  exercised 
by  this  exquisite  specimen  of  womanhood,  and  wrote 
out  a  theory  upon  the  subject,  which  is  too  crude  for 
quotation.  When  I  took  leave  of  Miss  Cora,  on 
leaving  Washington,  there  was  perhaps  a  little  feel 
ing  on  both  sides.  We  had  been  much  together  - 
meeting  nearly  every  day,  in  fact  —  and  in  an  inno 
cent  way  had  become  very  pleasantly  intimate.  We 
acknowledged  that  we  might  never  meet  again  :  Bos 
ton  and  New  Orleans  were  then  far  apart ;  and  so  the 
lady  turned,  I  suppose,  to  the  scores  of  young  fellows 
who  were  coveting  her  smiles,  and  I  bore  away  an 
image  of  loveliness  and  grace  never  to  be  erased. 
But  we  did  meet  again  ;  and  if  the  reader  will  kindly 
suppose  thirty  years  to  have  elapsed,  1  will  tell  him 
how.  From  this  shelf  of  old  journals  I  select  the 
volume  for  1856,  and  open  to  the  record  of  Saturday, 
the  30th  of  August.  I  am  now  with  some  friends  on 
the  North  Eiver,  and  am  taken  to  Montgomery  Place, 
to  see  the  fine  arboretum  belonging  to  Mr.  Barton. 
And  Mr.  Barton  himself  meets  us  at  the  door  of  his 
house,  and,  although  lame  from  the  gout,  walks  with 
us  about  the  garden,  and  points  out  his  choicest  trees. 
At  last  comes  the  invitation  which  fills  me  with  a  ner- 


272  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

vous  apprehension  :  "  Will  you  come  into  the  house 
and  see  Mrs.  Barton  ? "  Yes,  I  was  to  see  what  re 
mained  of  the  lovely  Cora  Livingston.  The  picture 
of  what  she  had  been  was  perfect  in  my  mind  and 
remains  so  to-day.  "  Surely,  never  lighted  on  this 
orb,  which  she  hardly  seemed  to  touch,  a  more  de 
lightful  vision  ! "  Burke's  famous  apostrophe  to  the 
Queen  of  France  is  none  too  good  for  the  queen  of 
American  society  in  1826.  She  was  as  graceful  as  a 
bird,  and  her  step  was  so  elastic  that,  as  Hawthorne 
says  of  one  of  his  characters,  motion  seemed  as  easy 
to  her  as  rest.  I  will  not  describe  the  old  lady,  in 
cap  and  dress  of  studied  simplicity,  to  whom  I  was 
presented  by  Mr.  Barton.  My  nap  had  lasted  ten 
years  longer  than  Eip  Van  Winkle's,  and  this  was  the 
penalty.  The  reflections  which  arise  under  such  cir 
cumstances  have  been  written  for  all  time  by  the 
author  of  Ecclesiastes,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat 
them.  "  You  would  not  have  known  me  ! "  said  Mrs. 
Barton.  I  could  only  be  silent.  "Come  into  the 
next  room,  then,  and  you  shall  see  the  Cora  Living 
ston  you  knew  in  Washington."  A  full-length  por 
trait  of  a  young  lady,  in  a  ball  dress,  hung  upon  the 
wall.  Yes,  fixed  upon  the  artist's  canvas  was  the 
lovely  being  who  shone  upon  the  society  of  the  capi 
tal  thirty  years  before.  I  wonder  where  that  portrait 
is  now,  and  whether  those  who  may  daily  see  it  have 
a  proper  sense  of  their  privilege  !  Some  years  ago  the 
venerable  Mrs.  Barton  passed  to  the  world  of  spirits ; 
but  before  her  death  an  arrangement  was  made  by 
which  the  four  folio  Shakespeares  she  possessed  came 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN   1826.  273 

to  the  Boston  City  Library.  Interesting  old  volumes 
they  are ;  highly  prized  by  the  many  owners  through 
whose  fingers  they  have  slipped ;  and  containing,  as 
we  all  know,  some  good  descriptions  of  what  is  de- 
li^htful  in  woman.  But  there  will  be  one  association 

o 

the  less  with  them  when  I  am  no  longer  able  to  climb 
the  stairs  which  lead  to  Bates  Hall.  There  will  be 
no  one  left  to  tell  how  their  last  private  possessor 
once  seemed  to  fill  the  most  perfect  outline  of  a 
charming  woman  that  the  poet  has  drawn. 

And  now  let  us  go  back  again  to  the  Washington 
of  1826.  At  the  public  ball  of  which  I  have  spoken 
I  saw  the  waltz  introduced  into  society  for  the  first 
time.  The  conspicuous  performer  was  Baron  Stackel- 
burg,  who  whirled  through  its  mazes  with  a  huge  pair 
of  dragoon  spurs  bound  to  his  heels.  The  danger  of 
interfering  with  the  other  dancers,  which  seemed 
always  imminent,  was  skilfully  avoided  by  the  Baron, 
who  received  a  murmur  of  appreciative  applause  as 
he  led  his  partner  to  her  seat.  The  question  of  the 
decorum  of  this  strange  dance  was  distinctly  raised 
upon  its  first  appearance,  and  it  was  nearly  twenty- 
five  years  later  before  remonstrances  ceased  to  be 
heard.  How  far  the  waltz,  and  its  successors  of  a 
similar  character,  may  be  compatible  with  feminine 
modesty,  is  a  question  which  need  not  here  be  dis 
cussed.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  socially  speaking, 
it  has  proved  an  unmitigated  nuisance.  It  has  utterly 
routed  the  intellectual  element  that  was  once  con 
spicuous  even  in  fashionable  gatherings.  It  has  not 
only  given  society  over  to  the  young  and  inexperi- 

18 


274  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST 

enced,  but,  by  a  perverse  process  of  smnatural  selec 
tion,  it  has  pushed  to  the  front  by  no  means  the  best 
specimens  of  these. 

I  find  in  my  journal  an  account  of  a  ball  at  the 
house  of  Baron  Durand  de  Mareuil,  the  French 
minister.  The  decorations  were  very  elegant  and 
displayed  the  perfection  of  French  taste.  I  mention 
talking  with  Miss  Morphin,  of  Kentucky,  Miss  Tay- 
loe,  and  other  young  ladies  ;  also  my  introduction  to 
Mrs.  A.  and  Miss  B.  (for  these  initials  will  do  to  rep 
resent  them), —  "  the  former  being  a  beautiful  creature, 
who  is  bound  to  a  great,  clumsy  fellow  of  a  husband ; 
the  latter  very  pretty,  but  ignorant  of  everything  ex 
cept  accomplishments,  and  vain  and  susceptible  of 
flattery  to  any  amount."  It  is  thus  that  our  fair 
sisters  are  sometimes  entered  in  the  private  records 
of  young  gentlemen.  But  the  finest  ball  I  attended 
was  given  by  Mr.  Yaughan,  the  English  minister. 
Here  the  dancing  was  in  a  large  room  on  the  second 
floor,  in  order  that  the  lower  hall  might  be  given  up 
to  the  supper.  A  table  of  liberal  dimensions,  pro 
fusely  laden  and  constantly  replenished,  was  the 
feature  of  the  evening.  Another  ball  at  Mr.  Obre- 
gon's,  the  Mexican  minister's,  "  given  under  the  pat 
ronage  of  Mrs.  and  Miss  Livingston/'  -is  duly  recorded, 
as  well  as  many  lesser  parties,  by  persons  holding  no 
official  position.  It  is  unnecessary,  however,  to  give 
further  particulars  of  these  festivities.  Many  agree 
able  and  sensible  people,  both  men  and  women,  were 
to  be  met.  The  society  was  exclusive'  and  a  proper 
introduction  was  rigorously  required.  General  Jack- 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY  IN   1826.  275 

son's  administration  swept  away  much  of  the  graceful 
etiquette  which  was  characteristic  of  the  society  as  I 
saw  it.  Then  set  in  the  era  of  universal  hand-shaking 
with  everybody  who  could  get  to  Washington,  and 
social  barriers  were  carried  by  the  unrefined  and 
coarse.  Gambling  was  considered  a  reputable  pas 
time  for  gentlemen,  and  a  room  at  most  parties  was 
reserved  for  this  purpose.  Card-playing  for  high 
stakes  was  usual  among  prominent  politicians  and 
men  in  office.  The  enormous  increase  of  wealth 
without  labor  which  had  come  to  fortunate  specu 
lators  since  the  peace  of  1815  seemed  to  make  the 
invocation  of  chance  almost  a  legitimate  business. 
It  was  said  that  an  original  proprietor  of  a  single 
share  in  the  Charlestown  Bridge  Company  had  re 
ceived  in  1826  not  only  principal  and  interest,  but 
a  surplus  of  $7,000.  Certain  lands  in  Pennsylvania, 
purchased  in  1814  at  sixty-two  cents  an  acre,  were 
selling  at  $400  an  acre.  Such  facts  as  these,  and 
many  similar  to  them,  in  which  the  gains  were  not 
so  enormous,  seemed  to  make  speculation  honorable, 
and  respectable,  and  the  controlling  spirit  of  the  time 
found  one  of  its  outlets  in  games  of  chance. 

Among  the  notable  matrons  whom  I  met  in  Wash 
ington,  perhaps  the  first  place  must  be  accorded  to 
Mrs.  Peter,  of  Georgetown.  She  was  a  granddaughter 
of  Mrs.  Washington,  an  intelligent  and  ardent  Fed 
eralist,  and  from  the  heights  of  Tudor  Place  looked 
down  upon  the  democratic  administrations  of  Jeffer 
son  and  his  successors  in  a  spirit  of  scornful  protest. 
She  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  them  as  "  our  pres- 


276  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

ent  rulers,"  much  as  a  French  Eepublican  under  the 
Second  Empire  might  have  spoken  of  the  men  who 
had  seized  his  country  against  its  better  will.  This 
patriotic  lady  had  named  her  three  daughters  America, 
Columbia,  and  Britannia,  —  the  latter,  it  was  said,  as 
a  significant  rebuke  to  the  Gallic  proclivities  -of  the 
third  President.  Of  these  young  ladies  the  name  of 
Miss  America  alone  appears  in  my  journal.  When 
presented  to  her,  I  could  not  avoid  an  awkward  and 
yet  comical  consciousness  of  the  august  nationality 
which  the  lady  in  some  sort  symbolized.  An  intro 
duction,  followed  by  the  usual  sequences,  seemed 
almost  such  a  desecration  as  one  would  be  guilty 
of  who  proposed  to  shake  hands  with  the  Goddess  of 
Liberty  and  entertain  her  with  ball-room  gossip.  If 
my  memory  is  to  be  trusted,  Mrs.  Peter's  appearance 
in  Washington  society  was  confined  to  extra-official 
circles.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  good  lady 
had  hoped  against  hope  for  a  Federal  President,  in 
whose  court  she  might  conscientiously  assume  the 
commanding  place  to  which  descent  and  talents  en 
titled  her.  Our  hold  upon  political  parties  is  now 
so  narrowed  that  it  is  difficult  to  realize  the  uncom 
promising  sternness  with  which  the  original  Federal 
ists  kept  the  faith.  To  them  party  had  the  character 
of  a  church  or  a  religion ;  and  I  cannot  better  illus 
trate  this  last  remark  than  by  quoting  the  words  of 
Elisha  E.  Potter,  of  Khode  Island,  a  gentleman  whom 
I  constantly  met  at  Miss  Hyer's  table  in  Washington, 
and  with  whom  I  made  part  of  my  journey  home. 
He  had  been  a  member  of  Congress  in  the  last  cen- 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY   IN   1826.  277 

tury,  and  had  served  again  during  the  War  of  1812. 
He  was  one  day  giving  me  a  pathetic  description  of 
the  gradual  fading  out  of  the  Federal  party,  and  of  the 
pluck  with  which  the  standard  was  followed  after 
the  day  was  lost.  "  I  remember  a  time,"  he  said, 
"  when  we  found  ourselves  in  a  minority  of  eleven, 
and  some  timid  soul  had  called  a  sort  of  meeting, 
to  see  whether  it  were  worth  while  to  continue  the 
opposition.  Some  were  disposed  to  be  dispirited,  and 
I  was  asked  to  say  a  few  words  to  brace  them  up. 
Well,  it  came  upon  me  to  say  only  this :  '  Friends, 
just  remember  that  we  are  as  many  as  the  Apostles 
were  after  Judas  had  deserted  them.  Think  what 
they  did,  and  fight  it  out.'  That  did  the  business. 
We  did  fight  it  out  and  fell  fighting  for  the  good 
cause."  There  spoke  the  uncompromising  spirit  of 
Federalism. 

Mr.  Potter  was  one  of  the  largest  men  I  have  ever 
seen,  excepting,  of  course,  the  professional  giants  in 
the  service  of  Mr.  Barnurn.  He  told  me  that  he 
generally  paid  for  two  seats  in  a  stage-coach,  and 
suffered  much  if  he  neglected  to  do  so.  But  the  wit 
and  intelligence  of  the  man  were  in  fair  proportion 
to  his  goodly  bulk.  I  had  taken  the  pains  to  write 
out  a  humorous  story  of  his  illustrative  of  Washing 
ton  life;  but  my  literary  adviser  inexorably  draws 
his  pen  through  it,  as  not  adapted  to  general  perusal. 
Mr.  Potter  was  one  of  the  men  who  carry  about  them 
a  surplus  of  vital  energy,  to  relieve  the  wants  of 
others.  The  absurd  inquiry  whether  life  were  worth 
living  never  suggested  itself  in  his  presence.  I  well 


278  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

remember  how  the  faces  about  Miss  Hyer's  dining- 
table  were  wont  to  be  lighted  up  when  he  entered 
the  room.  He  was  said  to  have  been  a  blacksmith 
in  his  early  days,  and  the  occupation  probably  con 
firmed  his  robust  frame  and  gave  his  cheery  self- 
reliance  a  substantial  physical  basis.  Mr.  Potter 
seemed  to  carry  about  with  him  a  certain  homespun 
certificate  of  authority,  which  made  it  natural  for 
lesser  men  to  accept  his  conclusions.  Oddly  enough, 
I  have  met  only  one  other  individual  who  impressed 
me  as  possessing  the  same  sort  of  personal  power, 
and  he  was  one  whose  place  in  history  is  certain 
when  the  lives  of  greater  and  better  men  are  covered 
by  oblivion  ;  for  the  muse  of  history  postpones  the 
claims  of  statesmen  and  poets  to  those  of  the  founders 
of  religions,  who,  for  good  or  evil,  are  more  potent 
factors  in  the  destiny  of  mankind.  Hereafter  I  may 
give  an  account  of  my  visit  to  Joseph  Smith,  in  his 
holy  city  of  Nauvoo.  It  is  now  sufficient  to  mention 
that  when  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Mormon 
prophet  I  was  haunted  with  a  provoking  sense  of 
having  known  him  before  ;  or,  at  least,  of  having 
known  some  one  whom  he  greatly  resembled.  And 
then  followed  a  painful  groping  and  peering  "  in  the 
dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time,"  in  search  of  a 
figure  that  was  provokingly  undiscoverable.  At  last 
the  Washington  of  1826  came  up  before  me,  and  the 
form  of  Elisha  R  Potter  thrust  itself  through  the 
gorges  of  memory.  Yes,  that  was  the  man  I  was 
seeking ;  yet  the  resemblance,  after  all,  could  scarcely 
be  called  physical,  and  I  am  loath  to  borrow  the 


WASHINGTON   SOCIETY   IN   1826.  279 

word  "  impressions!  "  from  the  vocabulary  of  spirit 
mediums.      Both  were  of  commanding  appearance, 
men  whom  it  seemed  natural  to  obey.     Wide  as  were 
the   differences  between  the  lives  and  characters  of 
these  Americans,  there  emanated  from  each  of  them 
a  certain  peculiar  moral  stress  and  compulsion  which 
I  have  never  felt  in  the  presence  of  others  of  their 
countrymen.     The  position  of  Mr.  Potter  in  his  native 
State  has  now  faded  to  a  dim  tradition.     It  was  of  the 
authoritative  kind  which  belongs  to  men  who  bear 
from  nature  the  best  credentials.     His  address  to  the 
freemen  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  published  in 
1810,  is  good  reading  to-day.     There  is  no  document 
of  as  many  pages  so  illustrative  of  the  best  sentiment 
and  best  spirit  of  the  time.     The  style  is  that  of  a 
man  not  quite  accustomed  to  easy  writing ;  but  there 
is  always  dignity  in  its  somewhat  rugged  periods,  and 
the   address   glows   with   an    honorable    self-respect, 
which  is  not  too  common  in  the  communications  of 
politicians  with  their  constituents.     I  gladly  close 
these  records  of  Washington  society  by  recalling  a 
figure  so  typical  of  a  noble  American  manhood. 


THE  HOUSE  OF  EEPRESENTATIVES. 


'J'HE  popular  branch  of  the  national  legislature 
was  the  most  interesting  sight  tLat  the       ^ 
had  to  offer  to  those  who  journeyed  thither  in  1826 
The  day  of  read  speeches  (prepared,  perhaps,  by  per 
sons  outside  of  Congress)  had  not  arrived;  neither 
had  it  occurred  to  any  one  to  ask  leave  to  print  prosy 
documents  which  had  not  even  been  read     The  ex 
citement  of  brisk  debates,  conducted   by  able  men 
was  constantly  to  be  had;  and  the  elaborate  speeches 
were  eloquent  or  logical  appeals,  designed  to  make  or 
change  votes.     My  very  first  morning  in  Washington 
was  devoted  to  the  House,  and  the  discussion  <tave 
me  the  opportunity  of  hearing  Webster  make  one  of 
those  massive  appeals  for  loyalty  to  the  spirit,  as  well 
as  the  letter,  of  the  Constitution  which  distinguished 
his  public  career. 

A  movement  to  put  a  breakwater  in  the  Delaware 
was  in  contemplation,  and,  as  a  means  toward  the 
successful  prosecution  of  this  end,  Miner,  of  Penn 
sylvania,  introduced  a  resolution  requesting  the  Presi 
dent  to  lay  before  Congress  a  statement  to  show  the 
net  amount  of  revenue  derived  from  imposts  and  ton 
nage  from  ports  within  the  Bay  of  Delaware  for  the 


THE   HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES.  281 

past  thirty-four  years.  Also  the  President  was  re 
quested  to  furnish  the  amount  of  expenditures  for 
lighthouses,  beacons,  and  other  public  works  made  in 
that  bay.  This  was  to  be  followed  by  like  informa 
tion  in  respect  to  receipts  and  expenditures  within 
the  Bay  of  Chesapeake,  as  well  as  similar  figures 
appertaining  to  the  harbor  of  New  York.  Now,  the 
request  for  the  increase  of  knowledge  embodied  in 
these  resolutions  seemed  to  me  so  harmless  and  even 
so  laudable  that  I  marvelled  at  the  evident  displeas 
ure  of  Webster  while  they  were  being  read.  Could 
it  be  that  his  practised  eye  had  detected  a  cat  con 
cealed  in  this  measure  of  apparently  innocent  meal  ? 
It  was  even  so,  and  the  moment  the  reading  ceased 
the  great  man  rose,  and,  with  the  air  of  one  not  to  be 
trifled  with,  demanded  full  information  of  the  mo 
tives  with  which  the  call  had  been  made.  And  so  the 
motives  had  to  appear,  though  the  mover  of  the  reso 
lution  covered  them  with  all  the  gloss  of  which  they 
were  susceptible.  The  hard  fact  was  that  the  Dela 
ware  breakwater  was  wanted  by  his  constituents,  and 
he  thought  that  these  revenue  statistics  would  estab 
lish  a  claim  which  Congress  could  be  moved  to  recog 
nize.  Was  it  not  pertinent,  he  asked,  to  show  how  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  this  commercial  district 
compared  with  those  of  others  ?  "  No,"  exclaimed 
Webster ;  "  not  if  you  mean  us  to  infer  that,  because 
the  port  of  Philadelphia  has  yielded  such  and  such 
sums  to  the  revenue,  it  is  therefore  entitled  to  have 
its  wishes  complied  with  in  the  matter  of  the  break 
water.  I  oppose  a  call  based  upon  such  principles." 


282  FIGURES   OF   THE  PAST. 

And  then  he  added  with  a  mighty  scorn,  which 
seemed  to  settle  the  question,  "  They  are  the  very 
essence  of  local  legislation  !  "  Whereupon  Wurts,  of 
Pennsylvania,  came  to  the  assistance  of  his  colleague, 
and  (to  follow  out  the  metaphor)  smoothed  the  meal 
so  carefully  over  the  pussy,  whose  slumbers  had  been 
disturbed,  that  it  almost  seemed  doubtful  whether 
she  could  still  be  beneath  that  placid  surface.  An 
amendment  was,  of  course,  proposed,  and  the  debate 
became  general,  Wood,  of  New  York,  and  other  mem 
bers  taking  part  in  it.  The  closing  speech  was  made 
by  Webster,  and  was  pointed  and  effective.  He  began 
by  disclaiming  any  hostility  to  the  breakwater.  The 
project,  on  its  own  merits,  deserved  serious  considera 
tion.  But  he  wanted  no  information  concerning  the 
revenue  collected  in  the  port  of  Philadelphia.  That 
revenue  was  paid  wherever  consumers  of  the  im 
ported  products  happened  to  reside.  "The  gentle 
men  in  charge  of  this  resolution,"  said  Webster,  with 
his  imperative  emphasis,  "  are  pushing  the  argument 
of  State  against  State  ;  and  I  bar  all  such  reasoning" 
He  proceeded  to  a  reductio  ad  dbeurdum,  sarcastically 
proposing  to  find  out  how  much  revenue  was  received 
at  other  ports,  and  then  to  make  appropriations  to 
each  correspond  to  the  figures  of  the  custom-houses. 
"If  the  breakwater  is  wanted,"  he  concluded,  "let  it 
be  shown  on  other  grounds.  If  it  is  wanted  at  all, 
it  is  wanted  as  a  great  national  work  and  must  be 
urged  upon  great  national  considerations"  As  soon 
as  Webster  resumed  his  seat  the  question  was  called, 
and  the  resolutions  rejected  by  a  handsome  majority. 


THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

The  speech  was  absolutely  unprepared,  and  was  not 
a  great  one;  but  it  was  eminently  characteristic  of 
the  man.  It  illustrated  that  exquisite  sensitiveness 
to  any  disrespect  to  the  paramount  majesty  of  the 
Union,  which  would  allow  no  slur,  however  subtle 
and  indirect,  to  .pass  unchallenged. 

On  the  morning  of  Thursday,  February  16,  the  gal 
leries  of  the  House  were  rilled  at  an  early  hour.  It  was 
known  that  the  most  sensational  orator  of  the  time, 
George  Macduffie,  of  South  Carolina,  a  bitter  opponent 
of  the  administration,  was  to  ask  a  hearing  of  his 
countrymen.  The  occasion  gained  interest  from  the 
fact  that  a  young  lady  to  whom  the  orator  was  very 
attentive,  and  whom,  I  believe,  he  afterward  married, 
was  conspicuous  in  the  gallery.  "  See !  there  is 
Miss  _  _  opposite.  Depend-  upon  it,  Mr.  Macduffie 
will  outdo  himself  to-day/'  said  one  of  the  ladies  of 
my  party,  as  we  took  our  seats.  And  these  same 
ladies  whom  I  attended  were  Miss  Mease  and  Miss 
Helen  ;  the  former  remarkable  for  her  powers  of  con 
versation,  the  latter  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Adams,  whom  I 
had  often  met  in  Quincy. 

Macduffie  was  certainly  an  orator,  if  earnestness 
and  fluency  can  make  one.  His  effort  (and  it  may 
well  be  so  called,  for  he  gesticulated  all  over)  lasted 
the  greater  part  of  two  days,  and  was  always  lively, 
if  never  conclusive.  He  was  not  guilty  of  sawing 
the  air  with  his  hand,  after  the  manner  which  Ham 
let  deprecates,  for  he  preferred  to  pound  that  element 
with  tightly  clenched  fists.  "  Will  not  those  fists  of 
Mr.  Macduffie  fly  off  and  hit  somebody  ?  "  whispered 


284  FIGURES   OF   THE  PAST. 

Miss  Helen  to  me,  during  one  of  the  tempests  or,  as  I 
may  say,  whirlwinds  of  his  passion.  Such  were  the 
remarks  of  the  friends  of  the  administration  upon  the 
over-emphasis  of  this  high-talking  Southerner. 

To  understand  the  motive  of  this  violent  speech,  it 
is  necessary  to  remember  that  in  1824  the  choice  of 
President  fell  upon  the  House  of  representatives, 
and  an  executive  was  elected  to  whom  a  majority 
of  the  electors  and  presumably  of  the  people  were 
opposed ;  in  other  words,  the  majority  of  the  House 
had  overruled  the  majority  of  the  nation.  Here  was 
a  situation  capable  of  rhetorical  treatment  of  the  in- 
tensest  sort ;  and  the  fact  that  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Adams  was  one  of  the  most  honorable  which  the 
nation  has  enjoyed  had  no  power  to  stay  the  sound 
and  fury  of  partisan  calumny.  The  House  had  re 
solved  itself  into  a  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the 
State  of  the  Union,  and  was  sitting  to  consider  cer 
tain  resolutions  formally  moved  by  the  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina.  It  was  proposed  to  amend  the 
Constitution,  so  that  a  uniform  system  of  voting  by 
districts  should  be  established  in  the  States,  and  to 
prevent  the  election  of  President  from  ever  devolving 
upon  either  branch  of  Congress.  Under  the  guise  of 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  a  proposition  was 
made  to  alter  the  relation  between  the  States  upon 
which  the  original  compact  of  union  had  been  based ; 
and  this  because,  after  nine  successful .  presidential 
elections,  there  had  come  one  failure.  As  the  report 
of  Macdufne's  speech  may  be  read  in  the  Congres 
sional  Eecords  of  the  time,  I  shall  attempt  no  sketch 


THE   HOUSE   OF  EEPEESENTATIVES.  285 

of  its  argument.  The  drift  of  it  was  that,  because  of 
the  idolatrous  homage  rendered  to  the  Constitution, 
the  rights  of  minorities  were  in  grievous  peril,  and 
this  was  a  matter  of  serious  concern  to  this  very 
democratic  slaveholder ;  but,  after  all,  he  argued,  the 
Constitution  was  aimed  at  ascertaining  the  popular 
voice  in  the  election  of  President,  and,  if  it  missed 
the  mark,  it  must  of  course  be  set  to  rights.  And 
then  the  equality  of  representation  of  the  States  in 
the  Upper  House  was  glanced  at,  and  pronounced  a 
wrong  which  the  larger  communities  would  not  always 
tolerate.  "  In  throwing  the  election  into  the  House," 
said  the  orator,  "  we  expose  ourselves  to  those  arts  of 
political  courtship  which  the  ambitious  have  ever 
.been  prone  to  practise.  The  little  arts  of  a  dinner 
or  a  condescending  smile  are  the  means  by  which 
cunning  aspirants  address  themselves  to  the  vanity 
and  foibles  of  those  who  fall  within  the  sphere  of 
their  fascination.  The  People  [properly  spelt  by  the 
reporter  with  a  large  P]  cannot  be  reached  by  these 
arts ! "  And  then  Macduffie  went  on  to  show  how 
Mr.  Adams,  destitute  of  the  confidence  of  this  vir 
tuous  and  discriminating  People,  would  be  forced  to 
buttress  himself  with  patronage,  and  to  introduce  a 
corrupt  civil  service,  like  that  employed  by  the  Eo- 
man  emperors.  How  has  history  answered  these 
unworthy  surmises  ?  Three  years  later  the  People 
seated  Andrew  Jackson  in  the  presidential  chair,  and 
the  pure  and  efficient  civil  service  maintained  by 
President  Adams  was  degraded  to  a  position  which 
is  the  shame  of  America  to  this  day. 


286  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

Mr.  Macduffie's  harangue,  though  one  of  the  famous 
incidents  of  the  time,  would  be  scarcely  worth  the 
notice  here  accorded  to  it  were  it  not  necessary  in 
order  to  emphasize  my  delight  with  the  reply  of 
Henry  E,  Storrs,  of  New  York.  "  A  very  masterly 
speech,"  says  my  journal.  "He  spoke  like  a  states 
man,  and  commanded  the  attention  of  the  House  by 
his  manly  eloquence  and  cogent  reasoning.  He  de 
scended  to  none  of  the  meretricious  arts  to  provoke 
applause,  but  met  the  full  responsibilities  of  the  situ 
ation."  I  had  never  heard  a  parliamentary  speech 
that  was  so  vigorous,  or  which  seemed  to  come  from 
a  man  so  thoroughly  equipped.  Storrs  swept  down 
upon  Macduffie's  hasty  assertion  that  the  Constitu 
tion  was  aimed  simply  at  ascertaining  the  popular 
voice  in  the  election  of  President.  The  pure  demo 
cratic  principle  was  to  be  found  in  no  branch  of  the 
government,  not  even  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  The  nation  was  based  upon  a  mixed  principle, 
in  which  the  rights  of  independent  States  were  com 
mingled  with  those  of  the  people  at  large.  And  then 
came  a  cutting  proposition  to  the  Southern  gentle 
man,  who,  in  his  enthusiasm  for  pure  democracy,  was 
disposed  to  sink  the  rights  guaranteed  to  the  States 
as  separate  communities.  With  telling  effect  Storrs 
pointed  his  finger  at  the  peculiar  Southern  institution, 
and  showed  that  its  stability  would  be  at  an  end  the 
moment  that  the  people  of  all  the  States  were  melted 
into  one  mass,  and  the  voters  of  the  South  had  no 
advantage  in  representation.  He  begged  that  Mac- 
duffie  would  proceed  to  complete  his  amendment  on 


THE   HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.  287 

his  own  principles,  and  abolish  a  state  of  things  which 
gave  the  white  men  of  his  section  a  much  greater 
weight  than  those  of  the  North.     The  argumentum 
ad  hominem  was  never  more  remorselessly  put,  and 
the  "sensation"  which  ran  along  the  galleries  was 
a  deserved  tribute  to  the  acumen  and  eloquence  of 
the  member  from  New  York.     Mr.  Storrs  was,  after 
Daniel  Webster,  the  most  impressive  man  in  a  Con 
gress  which  fairly  represented  the  best  intelligence  of 
the  country.     To  hear  him  speak  was  to  carry  away 
a  lasting  memory  of  eloquence  and  ability ;  yet,  for 
some  reason,  he  missed  the  position  of  conspicuous 
leadership  which  men  of  far  less  power  have  easily 
maintained.     His  friends  used  to  account  for  this  by 
saying  that  Storrs  had  a  judicial  way  of  looking  all 
round  a  subject,  which  deprived  him  of  that  absorb 
ing  enthusiasm   for  one  particular  view  of  it  upon 
which  political  prominence  depends.     His  reasoning, 
they  said,  was  strong  enough  to  convince  every  one 
but  himself;  but  he  could  never  believe  that  his  own 
arguments  quite  closed  a  question,  and  he  was  sincere 
enough  to  let  the  world  know  that  this  was  the  case. 
A  biography  of  Mr.  Storrs  was  once  in  contemplation. 
It  was  to  have  been  the  joint  work  of  William  C. 
Noyes  and  William  H.  Bogart,  and  the  latter  has  told 
us  that,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Noyes,  the  journal  of 
Mr.  Storrs  had  been  given  to  the  Buffalo  Historical 
Society.     Whether  it  has  ever  been  published  I  have 
no  knowledge. 

I  was  fortunate  in  hearing  the  elaborate  speech  by 
William  S.  Archer,  of  Virginia,  upon  the  Macduffie 


288  FIGUKES    OF   THE    PAST. 

resolutions,  as  it  was  a  fine  specimen  of  Southern  elo 
quence,  as  well  as  very  sensible  in  its  general  drift- 
The  name  of  this  gentleman  was  seldom  mentioned 
without  the  addition  of  an  adjective  borrowed  from 
Dr.  Young's  "  Night  Thoughts,"  a  poem  which  at  that 
time  was  familiar  to  everybody  wrho  read  poetry  at 
all.  "Insatiate  Archer!  would  not  one  suffice?"  suns 

o 

the  royal  chaplain,  thus  apostrophizing  the  last 
enemy  of  man.  The  quotation  was  altogether  too 
felicitous  to  escape  attention  when  the  member  from 
the  Old  Dominion  made  more  speeches  than  were 
thought  necessary  upon  some  question  before  the 
House ;  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  in  the  social 
Washington  of  1826  it  was  as  natural  to  speak  of 

Insatiate  Archer  as  of  Daniel  Webster  or  of  Henry 

«y 

Clay.  Mr.  Archer's  rhetoric,  though  a  little  too  bril 
liant  for  Northern  taste,  was  certainly  effective,  and 
his  unequivocal  condemnation  of  the  radical  changes 
in  the  Constitution  which  Macduffie  had  demanded 
was  sustained  by  a  vigorous  argument.  Neverthe 
less,  about  the  matter  upon  which  the  feeling  of  the 
day  was  most  excited  he  was  with  his  friend  from 
South  Carolina.  He  saw  small  hope  for  the  Union 
unless  the  Constitution  were  so  far  amended  as  to 
prevent  the  election  of  President  from  devolving 
upon  either  branch  of  Congress.  Waxing  very  elo 
quent  over  the  perilous  jurisdiction  of  the  House  in 
the  appointment  of  the  executive  magistrate,  he  fin 
ished  a  compromise  speech  which  commanded  the 
attention,  as  it  largely  appealed  to  the  sympathies, 
of  his  audience. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES.  289 

The  gallery  of  the  old  House  of  Representatives 
was,  in  fact,  not  a  gallery  at  all,  it  being  simply  a 
platform,  raised  a  foot  or  two  above  the  floor  of  the 
hall,  which  gave  the  honorable  members  an  excellent 
opportunity  of  attending  to  the  ladies  who  had  come 
to  listen  to  them.  The  huge  pillars  by  which  it  was 
divided  rendered  it  difficult  to  secure  a  place  from 
which  the  whole  assembly  could  be  seen,  and  it  fol 
lowed  that  it  was  highly  important  to  know  who  the 
speakers  were  to  be  before  selecting  seats.  It  was  a 
serious  drawback  to  the  interest  of  a  debate  that  some 
of  the  participants  must  necessarily  be  concealed ;  but 
then  the  debates  were  interesting  enough  to  over 
come  this  drawback,  for  Congress  was  at  that  time 
fairly  thrust  up  to  the  true  theory  of  its  character, 
and  it  was  an  education  to  have  the  freedom  of  the 
galleries.  Men  who  could  think  on  their  feet  and 
who  were  keen  to  take  advantage  of  any  slip  in  the 
arguments  of  their  opponents  were  sent  as  the  ablest 
mouthpieces  of  different  phases  of  public  sentiment. 
To  a  New  Englander,  a  debate  in  the  House  was  like 
a  glorified  town-meeting.  There  was  all  the  alert 
ness  of  mind  which  is  so  conspicuous  in  that  primal 
assembly,  accompanied  with  an  ability  which  could 
fairly  grapple  with  the  national  problems  presented 
for  solution.  Prejudice  and  passion,  of  course,  there 
were ;  but  the  unjust  war  upon  the  administration 
was  well  fought.  From  their  point  of  view,  the  as 
sailing  partisans  were  patriotic  men.  Grant  the 
premises  that  the  Southern  States  were  their  country 
and  slavery  was  its  life-blood,  and  their  favorite  epi- 

19 


290  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

tbet,  "chivalrous,"  need  not  be  withheld  from  the  lead 
ing  spirits  of  the  opposition.  Men  will  soon  come 
to  believe  what  they  wish  to  believe.  A  few  down 
right  phrases  of  Mr.  Adams  ("  Paralyzed  by  the  will 
of  our  constituents  "  was  one  of  them)  were  torn  from 
their  context  to  represent  him  as  a  monarchist  con 
spiring  against  the  liberties  of  the  nation.  Meantime 
the  "  Old  Roman "  (as  Jackson  was  absurdly  called) 
was  marching  upon  the  straggling  provincial  town 
which  then  did  duty  as  the  capital.  He  would  re 
ward  his  friends  and  punish  his  enemies,  who  were 
also,  of  course,  the  friends  and  enemies  of  mankind. 
The  verdict  of  history  has  already  been  given  upon 
the  administration  of  the  younger  President  Adams. 
It  was  tried  as  by  fire,  and  came  out  as  gold  from 
the  furnace. 


THEOUGH  BALTIMORE  TO   BOSTON. 


AT  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  4th  of 
March,  1826,  all  the  company  at  Miss  Hyer's 
boarding-house  made  their  appearance  at  an  uncom 
fortably  early  breakfast,  to  take  leave  of  Martin 
Brimmer,  of  Boston,  Captain  Zantzinger,  and  myself, 
who  were  booked  to  leave  Washington  by  the  early 
stage.  The  breakfast,  however,  might  as  well  have 
been  postponed  to  a  more  seasonable  hour,  for  the 
stage  did  not  appear  for  an  hour  after  it  was  due, 
and,  to  say  the  truth,  did  not  appear  even  then. 
What  did  arrive  was  a  nondescript  sort  of  conveyance, 
which  looked  more  like  a  hearse  upon  a  gigantic  scale 
than  any  modern  vehicle  with  which  I  am  acquainted. 
There  were  about  a  dozen  passengers  who  wished  to 
go  North,  and  we  were  told  that  the  combined  weight 
of  this  unexpected  multitude  had  broken  down  the 
regular  coach,  and  hence  we  were  served  this  melan 
choly  substitute.  It  was  raining  violently,  and  my 
journal  relates  how  we  were  forced  to  climb  in  over 
the  horses'  backs,  in  the  most  irregular  and  awkward 
fashion.  For  an  hour  we  travelled  in  absolute  dark 
ness  and  discomfort ;  and  then,  the  rain  having 
ceased,  the  leathern  curtains  were  rolled  up,  and  I 


292  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

discovered  my  fellow-passengers.  As  five  of  these 
were  army  officers,  the  conversation  began  upon  war, 
and  then  passed  to  a  subject  of  universal  interest,  — 
canals.  The  successful  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal 
had  been  the  great  event  of  the  previous  year,  and 
the  possibilities  of  transportation  which  prophets 
could  discern  seemed  quite  stupendous.  Why  would 
it  not  be  possible,  by  constant  relays  of  horses,  to 
move  passengers  at  the  rate  of  eight  miles  an  hour 
over  these  .watery  highways?  And  what  changes 
would  not  our  children  witness  who  might  live  to 
see  such  a  day  !  It  was  hardly  too  much  to  say  that 
both  houses  of  Congress  might  be  moved  at  a  reason 
able  rate  of  speed  with  scarcely  more  expenditure  of 
horse-power  than  that  which  sufficed  to  draw  a  dozen 
of  us  over  a  miry  road  that  morning.  The  vanity 
of  human  speculation  is  quite  as  striking  as  the  pro 
verbial  vanity  of  human  wishes.  A  little  more  time 
is  necessary  to  realize  it ;  that  is  the  difference.  Yet 
even  then  there  were  dim  portents  of  what  was  to 
come.  A  petition  had  already  been  sent  to  the  legis 
lature  of  New  York  to  incorporate  a  company  to  lay 
a  railroad  (a  horse  railroad,  of  course)  between  the 
Mohawk  and  Hudson  rivers,  to  obviate  the  loss  of 
time  in  passing  the  canal  from  Schenectady  to  Al 
bany.  Here  was  a  practical  but  unregarded  criticism 
upon  the  sanguine  views  of  these  enthusiasts.  Canals, 
indeed  ! 

Eight  hours  of  fatiguing  travel  brought  us  to  Balti 
more,  where,  by  Brimmer's  persuasion,  I  put  up  at 
the  fashionable  boarding-house  kept  by  Mrs.  West. 


THROUGH   BALTIMORE   TO   BOSTON.  293 

It  was  a  fine,  large  mansion,  evidently  built  for  a 
private  residence,  and  was  at  that  time  occupied  by 
about  twenty  guests,  whose  names  I  see  no  occasion 
to  copy  from  rny  journal.     On  the  morning  of  Sun 
day  I   attended   the  Unitarian  chapel,  to  hear  my 
classmate,  Charles  W.  Upham ;  and  in  the  afternoon 
went  to  St.  Paul's,  where  I  heard  Bishop  Kemp,  and 
was   dazzled   by  the  crowd  of  beautiful   and  well- 
dressed  women.     I  had  neglected  to  provide  myself 
with  letters  for  Baltimore,  and  so  proposed  to  con 
tinue  my  journey  as  soon  as  I  had  seen  the  monu 
ments  for  which  the  city  is  famous ;  but  on  Sunday 
afternoon,  as    I  was  gazing  about  the  streets  in  a 
stranger's  fashion,  I  was  suddenly  accosted  by  Gen 
eral  Stuart,  whom  I  had  met  in  Boston,  when  on  a 
visit  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Augustus  Thorndike.    He  was 
full  of  inquiries  about  my  plans,  and  expressed  him 
self  shocked  at  hearing  that  I  intended  to  leave  the 
city  without  seeking  to  make  acquaintances.     «  But, 
whatever  your  intentions  may  have  been,"  said  lie, 
"  there  is  no  getting  away  now.    You  have  been  fairly 
caught  by  a  Baltimorean.     So  you  must  surrender  at 
discretion  and  receive  the  hospitalities  of  the  place. 
Come  with  me  to  Mr.  Oliver's  at  once,  and  then  go 
off  if  you  can."     And  so  I  was  taken  to  the  noble 
residence  of  Mr.  Robert  Oliver,  one  of  the  most  con 
spicuous  citizens  of  Baltimore,  famous  for  his  large 
wealth,  abundant  charities,  and  profuse  hospitalities. 
He  had  been  a  noted  Federalist,  and  during  the  try 
ing  times  of  the  embargo  had  sustained  the  party  in 
Maryland  by  his  purse  and  influence.     On  leavin* 


294  .         FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

Mr.  Oliver's,  we  called  upon  Mr.  Hugh  Thompson,  and 
finally  ended  the  evening  at  Dr.  Stuart's,  the  father 
of  my  attentive  friend ;  and  the  result  of  it  all  was 
that  when  I  returned  to  Mrs.  West's  establishment, 
late  in  the  evening,  I  found  myself  engaged  for  ten 
days  of  constant  festivity,  comprising  balls,  dinners, 
morning  calls,  a  fox-hunt,  a  "  cotton  cambric,"  and 
such  other  not-specified  entertainments  as  would  be 
forthcoming  to- fill  the  intervals;  and  any  social  meet 
ings  more  hearty,  easy,  friendly,  and  in  all  respects 
agreeable  than  those  which  characterized  the  Balti 
more  society  of  1826  it  has  -never  been  my  fortune  to 
attend.  My  stay  seemed  like  a  long  English  Christ 
mas,  —  snch  a  one,  I  mean,  as  we  read,  of  in  books. 
The  beauty  and  grace  of  the  ladies  and  the  charming 
ease  of  their  manners  were  very  taking  to  one  reared 
among  the  grave  proprieties  of  Boston.  I  paid  two 
visits  to  Charles  Carroll  (the  signer  of  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence),  and  dined  with  him  and  Mr. 
Gallatin  at  Mr.  Caton's,  where  the  service,  though  the 
most  elegant  I  had  ever  seen,  in  no  wise  eclipsed  the 
conversation.  The  ladies  of  the  family,  Mrs.  Caton 
and  Mrs.  MacTavish  (mother  and  sister,  as  my  journal 
is  careful  to  mention,  to  the  Marchioness  of  Welles- 
ley),  were  fine-looking  women  and  bore  the  impress 
of  refinement  and  high  breeding.  Old  Mr.  Carroll, 
courtly  in  manners  and  bright  in  mind,  was  the  life 
of  the  party.  He  was  then  in  his  ninetieth  year,  but 
carried  himself  as  if  thirty  years  younger  than  his 
contemporary,  John  Adams.  I  have  never  seen  an  old 
man  so  absolutely  unconscious  of  his  age.  One  reason 


THKOUGH   BALTIMORE   TO   BOSTON.  295 

may  have  been  that  Carroll  was  very  spare  in  his 
person,  and  had  no  surplus  pound  of  mortality  to 
weigh  down  the  spirit.     On  terminating  my  first  call 
upon  this  very  active  patriarch,  he  started  from  his 
chair,  ran   down-stairs   before   me,  and   opened   the 
front  door.     Aghast  at  this  unexpected  proceeding, 
I   began    to  murmur  my   regrets   and   mortification 
in    causing    him   the    exertion.      "  Exertion ! "    ex 
claimed  Mr.  Carroll.     "  Why,  what  do  you  take  me 
for  ?     I  have  ridden  sixteen  miles  on  horseback  this 
morning,  and  am  good  for  as  much  more  this  after 
noon,  if  there  is  any  occasion  for  it."     On  leaving 
the  house,  General  Stuart  told  me  that  Mr.  Carroll 
made  it  a  point  of  etiquette  to  see  every  guest  well 
over  his  threshold.     "  But  you  should  see  him  when 
there  are  ladies!"  he  added.     "The   old  gentleman 
will  then  run  into  the  street  and  throw  down   the 
steps  of  the  carriage,  before  the  footman  has  a  chance 
to  reach  them."     At  Mr.  Caton's  dinner  Carroll  was 
rich  in  anecdotes  of  Franklin  and  other  great  men 
of  the  Eevolution  ;  but  my  journal,  which  finds  room 
for  much  of  the  petty  gossip  of  the  younger  society 
of  Baltimore,  gives  them  no  record.     He  spoke  with 
great  respect  of  my  venerable  friend  John  Adams, 
giving  me  a  Maryland  view  of  this  eminent  person 
age,  which  was,  so  to  speak,  somewhat  softer  in  out 
line  than  that  obtaining  in  Massachusetts.     In  social 
meetings  of  those  days  men  talked  much  of  the  past, 
because  there  was  none  of  the  varied  and  inexhausti 
ble  present  which  steam  and  telegraph  now  thrust 
upon   their   attention.      Let   it   be   mentioned  that, 


296  FIGURES   OF   THE    PAST. 

when  I  met  Mr.  Carroll  at  this  dinner-table,  not  a 
word  had  been  heard  from  Europe  for  fifty-eight  days. 
If  the  reader  considers  this  single  fact  in  its  full  bear 
ings,  he  will  appreciate  the  changes  in  the  objects 
of  human  thought  and  interest  which  these  physical 
marvels  have  wrought. 

It  is  only  modest  to  mention  that  the  attention  I 
received  in  Baltimore  was  due  not  to  my  own  deserv- 
ings,  but  partly  to  the  regard  in  which  my  father  was 
held  by  the  Federalists  of  the  city,  and  partly  to  the 
wish  to  acknowledge  the  civilities  which  Bostonians 
had  shown  to  strangers  on  the  occasion  of  the  Bunker 
Hill  celebration  of  the  previous  summer.  I  had 
dinner  invitations  from  Eobert  Gilmore,  John  Hoff 
man,  George  Hoffman,  Eobert  Oliver,  and  so  many 
others  that,  when  the  latter  gentleman  insisted  on 
my  dining  with  him  any  day  when  I  was  not  en 
gaged  elsewhere,  he  added,  pleasantly,  that  there  was 
really  no  hospitality  in  giving  an  invitation  under 
conditions  which  made  its  acceptance  plainly  impos 
sible.  One  little  incident  connected  with  these  Balti 
more  dinners  forcibly  reminded  me  that  I  was  not  in 
the  latitude  of  Boston.  I  was  engaged  to  dine  with 

Mr. ,  one  of  the  principal  citizens,  but  received 

a  polite  note  from  him  regretting  that  the  party  must 
be  postponed,  as  his  nephew  had  just  been  shot  in  a 
duel. 

Of  the  evening  parties  it  will  not  be  necessary  to 
copy  the  records  in  full.  A  brief  specimen  will  show 
their  character. 

"  Wednesday,  March  8.  —  Spent  the  evening  at  Mrs. 


THROUGH   BALTIMORE   TO   BOSTON.  297 

Bozeley's  ball,  where  I  was  greatly  struck  by  the 
beauty  of  the  ladies.  The  principal  belles  were  Miss 
Clapham,  Miss  Gallatin,  and  Miss  Johnson.  This  last 
lady  has  one  of  the  most  striking  faces  I  ever  saw. 
It  is  perfectly  Grecian.  And  this,  added  to  her  fine 
figure  and  graceful  movements,  presented  a  tout  en 
semble  from  which  I  could  not  keep  my  eyes.  I  was 
introduced  to  her,  and  found  her  manners  as  bewitch 
ing  as  her  person.  She  was  all  life  and  spirit.  After 
finishing  the  first  dance,  I  discovered  a  corner,  where 
we  sat  for  nearly  an  hour,  keeping  up  an  easy,  laugh 
ing  sort  of  conversation.  This  would  have  occasioned 
observation  elsewhere;  but  here  no  one  seemed  to 
notice  it  except  the  gentleman  who  wished  to  dance 
with  her,  so  I  had  a  very  comfortable  time.  When 
we  were  obliged  to  separate,  I  tried  to  dance  with 
Miss  Clapham,  but  found  she  was  engaged.  I  could 
only  represent  to  her  partner  that  I  should  never 
have  another  opportunity  of  dancing  with  this  lady, 
whereas  he  would  have  many  others ;  but  he  was  in 
exorable  and  refused  to  give  her  up,  so  I  did  the  next 
best  thing  in  standing  by  her  and  talking  to  her  dur 
ing  all  the  intervals  of  the  dance.  After  it  was  over, 
I  retired,  well  satisfied  that  the  reputation  of  Balti 
more  for  the  gayety  and  beauty  of  its  ladies  was  fully 
deserved." 

There  is  no  use  in  multiplying  extracts  like  this. 
It  is  the  old,  old  story  of  maidenly  fascinations  upon 
a  young  man.  Let  me  hope  that  the  intuitive  sym 
pathy  of  a  few  youthful  readers  will  give  piquancy 
to  the  foolish  words  which  chronicle  experiences  once 


298  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

so  vivid.     At  yet  another  ball  my  journal  tells  how 

I  was  introduced  to  Miss ,  "  the  great  belle  of 

the  city,"  and  testifies  that  I  found  her  "pretty, 
agreeable,  and  sensible."  And  then  there  is  written 
some  idle  gossip  of  the  young  fellows  of  Baltimore 
about  this  fair  lady.  The  question  with  them  was : 

Why  did  not  Miss marry  ?     She  was  nearly  as 

old  as  the  century,  and  had  had  annual  crops  of  eligi 
ble  offers  from  her  youth  up.  There  must  be  some 
explanation  ;  and  then  excellent  and  apparently  con 
clusive  reasons  why  the  lady  had  not  married  and 
never  would  marry  were  alleged,  and  these  were  duly 
confided  to  the  guardianship  of  my  journal.  It  is 
apropos  to  this  lady  that  I  shall  be  generous  enough 
to  relate  a  subsequent  awkwardness  of  my  own  ;  for 
it  enforces  what  may  be  called  a  social  moral,  which 
it  is  useful  to  remember.  A  few  years  after  this  (that 
is,  they  seemed  very  few  years  to  me),  a  gentleman 
from  Baltimore  was  dining  at  my  house.  During 
one  of  the  pauses  of  conversation,  it  occurred  to  me 
to  inquire  after  the  former  belle  of  his  city,  about 
whom  I  had  heard  so  much  speculation.  Expecting 
an  immediate  acquiescence  in  the  negative,  I  care 
lessly  threw  out  the  remark :  "Miss  —  — ,  of  Baltimore, 
I  believe,  was  never  married."  No  sooner  were  the 
words  uttered  than  I  saw  that  something  was  wrong. 
My  guest  changed  color  and  was  silent  for  some  mo 
ments.  At  length  came  the  overwhelming  reply 
"  Sir,  I  hope  she  was  married.  She  is  my  mother" 
And  so  the  moral  is,  that  WQ  cannot  be  too  cautious 
in  our  inquiries  concerning  the  life,  health,  or  circum- 


THROUGH  BALTIMORE   TO   BOSTON.  299 

stances  of  any  mortal  known   in   other  years   and 
bounded  by  another  horizon. 

I  was  introduced  to  Lucien  Bonaparte,  brother  of 
Napoleon,  whom  I  first  met  at  a  superb  dinner  at 
Mr.  George  Hoffman's.  Christopher  Hughes,  our 
minister  to  the  Netherlands,  was  of  the  party,  and 
drew  Bonaparte  into  general  conversation,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  table.  Morally  speaking,  Lucien  was 
one  of  the  best  of  the  family,  and  in  society  appeared 
as  a  man  of  varied  experience  and  accomplishment. 
His  title  of  "  Prince,"  which  sounded  strangely  to  my 
ears,  was  brought  in  by  those  who  talked  with  him 
quite  as  often  as  was  necessary ;  yet,  as  the  man  had 
had  the  chance  of  being  a  king,  and  had  declined 
royalty  for  very  creditable  reasons,  no  one  could 
grudge  him  the  poor  papal  princedom  of  Musignano, 
which  satisfied  an  ambition  to  which  richer  fields 
were  offered.  Among  the  subjects  of  discussion  was 
the  recent  action  of  the  New  York  Legislature  in 
augurating  common  schools.  Would  this  Yankee 
notion  spread  further?  It  might  do  for  New  England, 
where  property  was  pretty  equally  divided,  but  would 
be  very  unjust  where  this  was  not  the  case.  That 
the  rich  should  be  taxed  to  give  education,  without 
discrimination,  to  the  children  of  their  poorer  neigh 
bors,  was  decided  to  be  simply  preposterous.  The 
grounds  upon  which  this  appropriation  of  the  tax 
payer's  money  may  be  justified  were  apparently  not 
perceived ;  and,  indeed,  it  was  impossible  that  the 
characteristic  institution  of  the  Puritans  should  at 
that  day  be  acceptable  to  the  gentlemen  of  a  milder 
latitude. 


300  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

But  the  time  had  come  to  leave  the  delightful 
society  of  Baltimore,  and  I  managed  to  make  my 
farewell  round  of  visits,  notwithstanding  a  St.  Pat 
rick's  ball  and  a  real  hunt  (hitherto  postponed  by 
reason  of  bad  weather)  were  urged  upon  me  as 
imperative  reasons  for  remaining.  My  journey  to 
Philadelphia  was  by  boat,  stage,  and  then  another 
boat,  the  latter  with  no  accommodation  for  sleeping 
save  the  tables,  upon  which  the  passengers  extended 
themselves.  Seventeen  hours  of  uncomfortable  trav 
elling  brought  me  to  a  Philadelphia  boarding-house, 
wThere  I  remained  for  a  single  day. 

"  Wednesday,  March  15.  —  Called  this  morning  on 
Robert  Walsh,  with  whom  I  was  greatly  pleased. 
Saw  and  took  leave  of  General  Cadwallader.  Shortly 
before  twelve  I  went  on  board  the  steamboat  'Tren 
ton,'  and  had  a  pleasant  sail  to  the  place  from  which 
it  took  its  name.  Then  took  the  stage  to  this  place 
(New  Brunswick),  which  we  reached  about  nine. 

"  Thursday,  March  16.  —  At  six  this  morning  we 
started  in  the  '  Bellona '  for  New  York.  We  passed 
down  the  Raritan,  which  winds  about  among  marshes, 
greatly  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  all  persons  who  are 
in  a  hurry  ;  and  one  of  my  travelling  friends  was  in 
this  condition,  for  he  was  to  sail  in  the  packet  ship 
'  Canada '  at  noon.  At  length  we  reached  a  point 
where  we  could  see  the  Narrows,  and  there  was  the 
'  Canada  '  waiting  for  the  steamboat  from  New  York. 
The  hopes  of  my  companion  rose ;  but  as  we  ap 
proached  the  city  we  saw  the  steamboat  touch  the 
ship  and  then  leave  her,  upon  which  she  immediately 


THROUGH  BALTIMORE   TO   BOSTON.  301 

set  sail.  I  administered  a  little  Epictetus,  for  con 
solation,  and  after  a  time  he  accepted  his  disappoint 
ment.  On  reaching  the  city  I  accompanied  Mr. 
Potter  to  Bunker's,  whence  I  proceeded  to  my  uncle's, 
through  a  cloud  of  dust.  This  evening  I  have  been 
at  a  party  at  Maturin.  Livingston's,  where  I  had  the 
unexpected  pleasure  of  again  meeting  Miss  Bullett, 
of  Kentucky.  She  told  me  that  she  was  delighted 
with  the  city,  but  dissatisfied  with  the  manners  of 
the  beaux,  who  are  much  taken  up  with  dissipation 
and  self-admiration  and  have  little  time  to  attend  to 
the  ladies.  Had  a  long  chat  with  this  lady,  with 
Miss  Morpin  and  other  belles  of  the  city,  and  after  a 
light  supper  retired." 

I  omit  the  following  pages  of  my  journal  which 
are  devoted  to  a  soiree  at  the  mayor's  and  other  con 
vivialities.  I  will  also  spare  the  reader  my  enthu 
siasm  over  Garcia  in  opera,  "  who  cast  languishing- 
glances  at  the  box  of  Mr.  Malibran,  a  gentleman  of 
fifty,  to  whom  she  is  engaged."  As  my  journey  back 
to  Boston  was  enlivened  by  no  companion  as  inter 
esting  as  Judge  Story,  I  need  only  mention  that  "  we 
beguiled  the  heavy  roads  with  puns  and  witticisms," 
and  entered  the  three-hilled  city  on  the  evening  of 
the  23d  of  March.  Life  is  measured  by  the  sum  of 
our  impressions,  not  by  the  revolutions  of  the  earth. 
During  those  few  weeks  of  absence  from  my  office  I 
had  lived  long  and  learned  many  lessons  ;  yet  I  can 
not  but  realize  how  inadequately  I  have  been  able  to 
share  my  experiences  with  another  generation. 


THE  EEVEEEND   CLEEGY. 


n~^HE  narratives  which  I  have  hitherto  offered  the 
**-  reader  have  been  taken  from  or  suggested  by  my 
journals  written  during  the  decade  commencing  with 
1820,  a  period  so  remote  as  to  be  historical  to  all 
who  are  now  carrying  on  the  active  work  of  the 
world.  The  decades  beginning  with  1830  and  1840 
are  richer  in  incident,  as  I  came  into  more  intimate 
contact  with  distinguished  contemporaries  and  took  a 
humble  part  in  forwarding  that  great  revolution  which 
followed  the  introduction  of  locomotion  by  steam. 
But  the  diaries  which  chronicle  these  things  have 
not  the  savor  of  relating  to  an  extinct  condition  of 
society,  which  is  characteristic  of  those  from  which 
extracts  have  hitherto  been  taken  ;  and  before  leaving 
the  decade  following  1820,  I  have  been  urged,  by  the 
friend  by  whom  my  journals  have  been  read,  to  give 
some  illustrations  of  the  social  life  in  Boston  which 
they  present. 

The  progress  in  scientific  discovery  and  mechanical 
invention,  which  has  distinguished  the  last  half-cen 
tury  beyond  any  other  since  the  world  began,  has 
swept  us  past  many  comfortable  traditions  which  con 
trolled  our  society  when  I  first  knew  it.  In  the  third 


THE  REVEREND  CLERGY.          303 

decade  of  the  century  Boston  was  a  synonym  for 
certain  individuals  and  families,  who  ruled  it  with 
undisputed  sway  and,  according  to  the  standards  then 
recognized,  governed  it  pretty  well.  On  the  topmost 
round  of  the  social  ladder  stood  the  clergy;  for  al 
though  the  lines  of  theological  separation  among 
themselves  were  deeply  cut,  the  void  between  them 
and  the  laity  was  even  more  impassable.  Dr.  Chan- 
ning,  the  pastor  of  my  father's  family,  upon  hearing 
that  I  had  joined  a  militia  company,  spoke  to  my 
mother  on  the  subject,  and  alluded  to  a  personal  griev 
ance  with  a  bitterness  of  tone  which  caused  his  words 
to  be  long  remembered.  "  Your  son,  madam,"  he  said, 
"  is  to  be  greatly  congratulated,  for  he  will  now  have 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  men  as  they  really  are ;  and 
this  is  an  inestimable  privilege  which  has  always  been 
denied  to  me.  The  moment  I  enter  any  society, 
every  one  remembers  that  I  am  a  clergyman,  puts  off 
his  natural  self,  and  begins  to  act  a  part.  My  profes 
sion  requires  me  to  deal  with  such  men  as  actually 
exist,  yet  I  can  never  see  them  except  in  disguise. 
I  arn  shut  out  from  knowledge  which  is  essential  to 
my  work."  And  so  strongly  did  this  eminent  man 
feel  the  disadvantage  under  which  he  labored  that  he 
made  it  the  subject  of  an  address  from  the  pulpit.  I 
find,  in  my  journal  for  January  8,  1826,  an  abstract 
of  a  sermon  preached  that  day  upon  "Sanctity  of 
Persons,"  wherein  Dr.  Channing  thought  it  necessary 
to  maintain  the  thesis  that  ministers,  merely  in  virtue 
of  their  office,  were  no  holier  than  the  rest  of  man 
kind,  and  that  the  reverence  accorded  them  should 


304  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

not  differ  from  that  due  to  Christian  laymen  whose 
influence  tended  to  the  elevation  of  our  characters. 

The  absence  of  the  able  religious  press  which 
at  present  exists  gave  great  weight  to  the  utter 
ances  of  the  pulpit,  and  my  journals  contain  al 
ways  a  notice  and  often  a  pretty  full  report  of  the 
Sunday  discourses.  A  brief  mention  of  some  of  these 
old  sermons  may  be  found  interesting.  On  Sunday, 
June  17, 1821, 1  find  that  the  venerable  Mr.  Norton,  of 
Weymouth,  preached  at  the  First  Church  in  Quincy, 
and  that  he  saw  fit  to  address  his  remarks,  not  to 
potential  presidents  of  the  United  States,  as  it  would 
have  been  polite  in  him  to  do,  but  to  servants.  The 
domestics  of  the  family  in  those  days  often  worshipped 
with  their  employers,  and  the  good  old  minister  saw 
no  reason  why  a  fact  of  social  existence  recognized 
everywhere  else  should  be  ignored  by  the  pulpit.  "  I 
am  Abraham's  servant,"  was  announced  as  the  text, 
and  surely,  thought  the  preacher,  there  was  nothing 
unbecoming  an  honorable  and  self-respecting  man  in 
this  statement;  for  the  Scriptures  are  at  pains  to  in 
form  us  how  good  a  servant  was  he  who  thus  bluntly 
declared  his  office.  "  Mark,  in  the  first  place,"  quoth 
Mr.  Norton,  "  the  dignified  mission  with  which  he  was 
intrusted.  It  was  to  choose  a  wife  for  Isaac.  Ob 
serve,  in  the  second  place,  his  self-denial  in  refusing 
to  eat  until  he  had  told  his  errand,  though  lie  must 
have  been  very  hungry  after  his  long  journey.  In 
the  third  place,  note  that  we  hear  nothing  of  his 
visiting  any  of  the  sights  of  Nahor,  though  to  a 
stranger  they  must  have  been  attractive,  and  doubt- 


THE  REVEREND  CLERGY.          305 

less  the  friends  of  Eebekah  would  Lave  feasted  him 
had  he  chosen  to  tarry  for  this  purpose."  Those  ac 
quainted  with  the  sermons  of  the  time  can  imagine 
the  picturesque  treatment  that  naturally  belongs  to 
these  different  heads.  The  resulting  moral  was  shot 
point-blank  at  such  servants  and  apprentices  as  were 
present  to  receive  it.  While  Mr.  Norton  thought 
it  improbable  that  they  would  be  employed  in  deli 
cate  matrimonial  negotiations,  like  the  servant  of  the 
text,  he  was  quite  confident  that  there  would  never 
be  lacking  opportunities  of  showing  fidelity  in  the 
condition  of  life  to  which  their  Maker  had  called 
them.  Perhaps  I  should  apologize  for  bringing  this 
rusty  old  homily  from  its  sixty  years  of  silence.  It 
is  little  adapted  to  that  fair  world  of  railroad  presi 
dents,  popular  politicians,  and  successful  speculators 
which  all  young  Americans  are  now  on  their  way  to 
adorn. 

My  journal  for  Sunday,  November  11,  1821,  is 
devoted  to  an  account  of  services  held  by  John  New- 
land  Maffit,  a  Methodist  preacher,  who  attracted  great 
attention  and  was  claimed  by  his  admirers  to  be  the 
successor  of  Whitefield.  On  the  morning  of  the  day 
I  attended  a  baptism  by  immersion  of  some  fifty 
adults,  most  of  them  young  women,  who  had  been 
converted  by  his  appeals.  The  ceremony  took  place 
in  Charles  River,  near  the  site  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital.  For  some  reason  or  other,  Mr. 
Maffit  could  not  administer  the  rite.  With  an  ear 
nest  half-whisper,  that  was  very  impressive,  he  pro 
nounced  a  benediction  over  each  of  his  converts,  as 

20 


306  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

be  handed  them  to  an  older  minister,  who  led  them 
into  the  'water.  Those  who  were  baptized  seemed 
under  great  excitement,  and  took  their  chilly  Novem 
ber  plunge  without  shrinking.  They  all  sang  with 
fervor  as  they  waded  back  to  the  beach.  It  was  no 
easy  matter  to  hear  Mr.  Maffit  preach,  for  the  crowds 
which  thronged  to  the  Bromfield  Street  Meeting-house 
packed  the  aisles  of  that  building  so  closely  that  the 
minister  had  been  forced  to  enter  by  a  ladder  placed 
at  a  back  window.  I  was  so  much  struck  by  the  ser 
vices  of  the  morning  that  I  determined  to  hear  this 
famous  preacher,  and  by  dint  of  great  perseverance 
succeeded  in  doing  so.  My  journal  thus  describes 
him :  "  Mr.  Maffit  is  a  little  black-haired  man,  with 
the  scar  of  a  harelip,  which  has  been  sewed  up.  His 
wonderful  power  lies  in  bis  fluency  and  his  imagina 
tion.  In  the  afternoon  his  text  was  from  Acts  vii. 
22  :  '  And  Moses  was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of 
the  Egyptians.' :  In  the  evening  he  preached  upon 
Nebuchadnezzar's  dream.  He  is  very  rapid  in  his 
enunciation,  never  hesitating  for  a  word  or  pausing 
for  an  instant.  He  has  a  fine  voice,  and  it  is  pleasant 
to  hear  him."  I  then  speak  of  his  utter  want  of 
method,  and  the  adroit  way  in  which  he  disguised  it 
by  a  rapid  rush  of  utterance  in  the  places  where  a 
want  of  proper  sequence  would  otherwise  have  been 
marked.  "  His  self-possession  is  amazing,  and  when 
he  made  some  ridiculous  mistake  he  hurried  on  and 
took  no  notice  of  it,  and  so  nobody  else  did." 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  abundant  incense  offered 
at  the  shrine  of  Mr.  Maffit  drew  from  Dr.  Channing 


THE  REVEREND  CLERGY.  307 

ail  excellent  sermon  from  2  Corinthians  xiii.   9,  of 
which  my  journal  for  the  following  Sunday  contains 
a  report.     It  was  a  rigid  examination  of  the  duties 
of  ministers,  showing  the  temptation  which  assailed 
those  possessing  certain  gifts  of  voice  and  manner  to 
substitute  the  startling  effects  which  produce  imme 
diate  applause  for  more  effective  methods  of  dealing 
with  sin.     The  warning,  if  it  was  intended  for  one, 
was  timely;   for  the  much-flattered  Mr.  Maffit  got 
into  trouble  the  very  next   year,  and    appeared   in 
court,  prosecuting  Joseph  T.  Buckingham,  editor  of 
the  "  Galaxy,"  for  a  libel.    My  father,  who  was  judge, 
ruled  that  the  defendant  might  be  allowed  to  prove 
that   his  allegations  were  true  and  that  they  were 
published  for  justifiable  ends,  since  the  specific  reser 
vation  of  the  liberty  of  the  press  under  the  Massa 
chusetts   Constitution  annulled  the  doctrine   of   the 
common  law,  that  the  truth  could  not  be  put  in  as 
evidence  under  a  libel.     Owing  to  this  ruling,  Mr. 
Maffit  lost  his  case  before  the  civil  court;  but  it  is 
due  to  him  to  say  that  the  ecclesiastical  court,  which 
subsequently  considered  his  alleged  offences  against 
decorum,  found  that  while  he  "  had  exhibited  mourn 
ful  evidence  of  want  of  judgment  and  prudence,"  no 
more  serious  charge  could  be  sustained  against  him. 
This  was  doubtless  a  correct  view  of  the  case,  and 
furnishes  one  warning  more  of  the  jealous  scrutiny 
to  which  the  ways  of  a  popular  preacher  are  sub 
jected.     The  Christian  usefulness  of  this  impulsive 
and  eloquent  Irishman  was  forever  marred   by  his 
imprudence. 


308  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

I  was  on  intimate  terms  with  Dr.  Charming  and 
often  visited  him.  I  recall  a  conversation  I  had  with 
him  about  this  time  in  relation  to  Maffit  or  some 
other  modern  Whitefield.  "To  compare  any  man 
that  this  generation  has  heard  to  Whitefield  is  on  its 
face  absurd,"  said  Dr.  Charming.  "Could  any  of  them 
move  such  cold  and  competent  critics  as  Garrick  and 
Gibbon?  Now  to  Whitefield's  eloquence  we  have 
expert  testimony,  which  places  him  far  above  all  un 
inspired  preachers.  Would  the  most  consummate 
actor  of  his  day  and  the  philosophical  scoffer  at  the 
religion  Whitefield  preached  have  been  touched  by 
anything  short  of  the  light  and  sincerity  of  genius  ? " 
I.  then  repeated  to  Dr.  Charming  a  remark  made  in 
my  presence  by  my  great-aunt  Storer,  at  which  he 
seemed  much  struck,  saying  that  it  was  in  perfect 
accordance  with  the  traditions  of  Whitefield  which 
had  come  to  his  know]  edge.  Mrs.  Storer,  who  had 
heard  this  great  preacher  upon  Boston  Common,  was 
asked  to  give  the  company  some  idea  of  the  effect  he 
produced  upon  her.  Her  reply  was  substantially 
this  :  "  I  remember  that  in  the  course  of  one  of  his 
sermons  (it  was  preached  just  after  sunrise)  he  quoted 
the  words,  '  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and 
dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea.'  Well,  his 
voice  was  like  that  of  an  angel  when  he  uttered  them, 
while  his  arms  rose  slowly  from  his  sides  with  an  in 
describable  grace.  I  should  have  felt  no  surprise  to 
see  him  ascend  into  the  air.  That  would  have  been 
no  miracle.  The  miracle  was  rather  that  he  remained 
on  earth." 


THE  REVEREND  CLERGY.  309 

My  journals  abound  in  abstracts  of  Dr.  Channing's 
sermons,  which,  although  far  too  lengthy  for  quota 
tion  in  these  papers,  have  at  least  the  interest  of 
showing  how  much  matter  the  average  hearer  could 
bring  home  from  those   wonderful   services.     Testi 
mony  of  mine  to  the  thrilling  impressiveness  of  his 
voice  would  be  utterly  superfluous.     "  I  could  form 
no  idea  of  eternity,"  said  a  lady  to  me,  "  until  I  heard 
Channing  say  the  words  'from  everlasting  to  ever 
lasting,'  and  then  it  overwhelmed  me.     They  were  as 
full  of  spiritual  discernment  as  the  simple  exclama 
tion  of  Whitefield,  which  Garrick  said  he  would  give 
a  hundred  guineas  to  imitate."      I  may  give  some 
notion  of  the  sustained  elevation  of  Channing's  pul 
pit  utterances  by  mentioning  that  when  he  had  occa 
sion  to  make  some  ordinary  request  from  the  sacred 
desk,  the  descent  of  his  manner  excited  a  sense  of  the 
ridiculous.     "  I  should  like  to  have  those  in  the  back 
pews  come  forward  and  occupy  the   pews  near  the 
pulpit."     What  is  there  in   this  simple  and  proper 
request  to  raise  a  smile  ?     And  yet,  when  Chauning 
made  it,  after  one  of  his  impassioned  discourses,  the 
effect  was  somehow  as  comically  incongruous  as  if 
Prospero  should  follow   his   grand  speech  about  the 
dissolution  of  the  great  globe  itself  by  asking  Ariel 
to  serve  him  with  chops  and   tomato  sauce.      The 
fact  is,  that  the  man  who  loomed  to  such  gigantic 
spiritual  stature  in  the  pulpit  was  not  a  great  pastor. 
With  all  his  interest  in  education,  he  did  not  person 
ally  come  near  the  average  youth  of  his  congregation. 
We  revered  him  and  were  very  proud  of  him,  but  the 


310  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

distance  between  us  was  impassable.  I  am  speaking 
of  him,  of  course,  as  he  appeared  to  the  very  young. 
A  timid  young  girl,  who  went  on  a  fishing  excursion 
with  her  pastor  in  1815,  gave  me  this  specimen  of 
the  way  in  which  the  good  man  sought  to  enter  into 
conversational  relations  with  her.  The  party  had 
been  out  for  some  hours,  and  at  length  the  shy  Mr. 
Channiug  seemed  to  feel  that  it  was  his  duty  to  say 
something  to  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  principal 
supporters  of  his  church.  He  accordingly  sidled  up 
to  her,  and  thus  began :  "  Do  these  waves  look  to  you 
as  if  they  were  moved  by  the  wind,  or  as  if  each 
wave  was  propelled  by  the  impulse  it  receives  from 
the  one  following  it  ? "  An  admirable  question  this. 
Indeed,  it  will  look  so  well  in  print  that  the  point 
of  the  story  may  be  missed.  Nothing  could  be  better 
to  introduce  that  body  of  useful  information  which 
oppresses  the  fathers  of  the  Franks  and  the  Rollos, 
and  of  which  they  are  bound  to  relieve  themselves 
at  any  sacrifice ;  but,  excellent  as  the  inquiry  was,  it 
shut  up  the  young  girl  most  effectually,  for  it  testi 
fied  to  the  awful  distance  which  separated  her  simple 
thoughts  from  those  of  her  pastor.  To  ask  whether 
his  young  friend  were  not  hungry  arid  did  not  hope 
there  would  be  chowder  for  luncheon,  would  not  have 
been  a  dignified  opening ;  yet  easy  relations,  valuable 
to  one  of  the  parties  at  least,  might  thus  have  been 
established.  There  is  no  harm  in  admitting  (nay,  it 
is  often  encouraging  to  remember)  that  men  full  of 
genius  and  goodness  have  had  their  human  limita 
tions,  like  the  rest  of  us.  Channing's  gift  was  that 


THE  REVEREND  CLERGY.          311 

of  a  preacher.  His  sermons,  while  coherent  and  com 
plete  as  compositions,  were  given  with  a  warmth  and 
intensity  of  expression  with  which  scholarship  and 
delicacy  of  thought  are  seldom  united. 

Mrs.  Gore,  of  Boston,  afterward  known  as  Mrs. 
Joseph  Eussell,  ornamented  her  parlors  in  Park 
Street  with  two  fine  Stuarts,  painted  by  her  order 
One  of  these  portraits  represented  Cardinal  Cheverus 
(or,  as  we  Bostonians  had  rather  call  him,  Bishop 
Cheverus),  arid  the  other  Dr.  John  Sylvester  John 
Gardiner,  the  rector  of  Trinity.  Both  these  divines 
impressed  themselves  deeply  upon  the  society  of 
Boston,  and  many  are  the  anecdotes  that  were  once  in 
circulation  concerning  them.  Cheverus  was  greatly 
esteemed  by  my  father,  who  was  fond  of  relating  the 
manner  in  which  their  acquaintance  commenced. 
One  day,  near  the  beginning  of  the  century,  he  was 
driving  from  Quincy  to  Boston  in  a  pelting  storm. 
When  about  five  miles  from  his  destination,  he  over 
took  a  forlorn  foot-passenger,  who,  drenched  and 
draggled,  was  plodding  along  the  miry  road.  My 
father  drew  up  his  horse,  and  called  to  the  stranger 
to  get  in  and  ride  with  him.  "  That  would  be 
scarcely  fair,"  was  the  man's  reply.  "  My  clothes 
are  soaked  with  wrater  and  would  spoil  the  cushions 
of  your  chaise,  to  say  nothing  of  the  wetting  I  could 
not  avoid  giving  you."  These  objections  were  made 
light  of,  arid  with  some  difficulty  the  wayfarer  was 
persuaded  to  take  the  offered  seat.  During  the  ride 
my  father  learned  that  his  companion  was  a  priest, 
named  Cheverus,  who  was  walking  from  Hingham, 


312  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

whither  he  had  been  to  perform  some  offices  con 
nected  with  his  profession ;  and  thus  commenced  the 
acquaintance,  which  afterward  ripened  into  friendship, 
between  men  whose  beliefs  and  ways  of  life  were  out 
wardly  so  different.  No  person  could  have  been  bet 
ter  adapted  to  establish  the  Church  of  Eome  in  the 
city  of  the  Puritans  than  the  first  bishop  of  Boston. 
The  elevation  of  his  character  commanded  the  respect 
of  the  Protestant  leaders  of  the  place,  and  Channing 
confessed  that  no  minister  in  the  town  would  care  to 
challenge  a  comparison  between  himself  and  this  de 
voted  priest.  I  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  hearing 
Cheverus  preach  in  the  Franklin  Street  Cathedral. 
His  style  was  very  direct,  and  I  remember  how  start 
ling  to  my  ears  was  the  sentence  with  which  he 
opened  his  discourse :  "I  am  now  addressing  a  con 
gregation  which  has  more  thieves  in  it  than  any  other 
assembled  in  this  town."  Owing  to  the  social  posi 
tion  and  peculiar  temptations  of  his  people,  the  fact 
may  have  been  as  the  Bishop  stated  it ;  but  only  a 
strong  man  would  have  ventured  upon  an  opening  so 
little  conciliatory  to  his  audience.  But  besides  the 
great  Christian  virtues,  Gheverus  had  those  gifts  of 
tact  and  humor  which  are  not  without  value  to  an 
ecclesiastic.  He  had  a  sly  way  of  reminding  his 
Protestant  friends  that  their  forefathers  had  fled  to 
this  country,  not  to  escape  the  persecution  of  Popery, 
but  that  of  a  Protestant  Prelacy ;  and  when  theologi 
cal  topics  were  broached,  he  would  treat  our  "  invin 
cible  ignorance  "  with  a  kindly  forbearance  that  was 
very  winning.  There  was  a  story  that  he  once  en- 


THE  REVERENT)  CLERGY.  313 

tered  into  an  argument  with  a  Methodist  minister, 
who,  with  more  zeal  than  wisdom,  sought  to  crush  the 
Bishop  with  texts  selected  at  random  from  all  parts 
of  the  Bible  and  then  dovetailed  together  to  support 
his  conclusions.  Cheverus  stood  this  sort  of  attack 
until  the  argumentum  ad  absurdum,  or,  rather,  ad 
hominem,  seemed  to  be  a  legitimate  retaliation ;  and 
so,  turning  over  the  Bible,  he  said  he  would  call  his 
antagonist's  attention  to  two  texts  which,  when  prop 
erly  clinched  together,  would  end  all  controversy  be 
tween  them.  The  first  was  to  be  found  in  the  twenty- 
seventh  chapter  of  Matthew,  "  And  Judas  went  and 
hanged  himself;"  the  second  was  from  Luke  x.,  "  Go. 
and  do  tlwu  likeioise"  I  do  not  vouch  for  the  truth 
of  this  anecdote,  but  only  for  its  currency. 

There  is  room  for  all  temperaments  among  the 
clergy.  The  Church  of  Him  who  came  eating  and 
drinking,  and  whose  chief  apostle  was  willing  to  make 
himself  all  things  to  all  men,  touches  this  world  as 
well  as  the  heavens.  It  has  uses  not  only  for  the 
meditative  ascetic,  but  for  the  well-equipped  scholar 
of  genial  presence  and  warm  social  tastes.  Such 
a  man  was  Dr.  Gardiner,  the  rector  of  Trinity,  a 
representative  English  Churchman;  one  who  thought 
it  no  sin  to  enjoy  a  game  of  cards  and  a  game  supper 
afterward.  At  the  time  to  which  I  refer  I  think  he 
was  the  only  Boston  clergyman  who  was  willing  to 
be  seen  playing  whist ;  and  as  for  suppers,  he  pos 
sessed  the  noble  British  digestion  which  regards  with 
scorn  the  weaker  gastric  fluids  characteristic  of  West 
ern  civilization.  "  What  is  all  this  talk  about  stoin- 


314  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

achs  ? "  I  have  heard  him  exclaim.  "  You  don't  give 
them  work  enough.  That 's  what  the  matter  is.  Eat 
a  heart}7  supper,  as  I  do,  keep  a  good  conscience,  and 
don't  think  about  them,  and  I  '11  be  bound  they  '11  give 
you  no  trouble."  And  the  good  Doctor  took  his  own 
prescription  with  great  success ;  and,  with  some  modi 
fications,  it  is  not  a  bad  one.  In  the  pulpit  Dr.  Gar 
diner  was  interesting  and  gratified  a  refined  taste ;  yet 
he  well  knew  the  advantage  of  occasionally  leaving 
the  graceful  periods,  of  which  he  wTas  master,  to  pass 
to  the  direct  language  of  every-day  life.  After  mak 
ing  an  urgent  appeal  in  behalf  of  some  charity,  I  once 
heard  him  say,  "  Come  now,  you  rich  men,  give  liber 
ally  ;  and  I  '11  answer  for  it  that  you  shall  have  money 
enough  left  to  ruin  all  your  children."  Dr.  Gardiner 
was  the  best  reader  in  the  town,  and  it  was  rumored 
that  when  among  confidential  friends  he  had  been 
known  to  interpret  Shakespeare  with  great  power.  Of 
this,  however^!  had  no  opportunity  to  judge,  as  public 
sentiment  would  scarcely  have  permitted  a  minister 
to  entertain  any  general  circle  of  hearers  by  render 
ing  stage  plays ;  but  his  reading  of  the  liturgy,  and 
especially  of  the  burial  service,  is  never  to  be  for 
gotten.  In  the  latter  office  he  introduced  an  effect 
so  dramatic  and  startling  that  it  could  only  have 
been  inoffensive  in  the  most  judicious  hands:  but,  as 
Dr.  Gardiner  used  it,  it  added  to  the  solemnity  of  that 
wonderful  fifteenth  chapter  of  Corinthians,  which 
has  so  often  strengthened  the  afflicted  children  of 
men.  The  apostle,  after  testifying  how  the  faith  of 
the  resurrection  had  sustained  him  in  his  trials,  gives 


THE  REVEREND  CLERGY.          315 

in  one  terse  sentence  a  philosophy  of  life  which 
might  seem  plausible  to  those  who  rejected  the  gos 
pel  he  taught :  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow 
we  die."  Dr.  Gardiner's  whole  manner  changed  when 
he  reached  this  passage,  and  he  gave  the  words  with 
the  full  force  of  dramatic  personation.  I  have  heard 
them  ring  through  the  church  almost  as  Falstaff 
might  have  uttered  them  in  the  tavern  at  East- 
cheap.  It  was  as  if  the  Doctor  determined  that 
Satan  should  not  complain  that  his  sentiments  had 
been  marred  in  the  delivery.  And  then  this  bold 
treatment  gave  the  reader  the  right  to  assume  also 
the  personality  of  the  inspired  teacher  in  the  solemn 
sentences  which  followed :  "  Awake  to  righteousness 
and  sin  not;  for  some  have  not  the  knowledge  of 
God.  /  speak  this  to  your  shame"  I  would  that  I 
could  clothe  these  words  with  the  sublimity  with 
which  the  voice  of  the  rector  of  Trinity  still  invests 
them  to  my  ears.  Singularly  enough,  Dr.  Gardiner  is 
remembered  for  one  of  the  least  of  his  many  contri 
butions  to  our  literature.  This  was  an  adaptation  of 
Milton's  "Hymn  on  the  Morning  of  Christ's  Nativity  " 
to  the  exigencies  of  public  worship.  The  necessary 
alterations  are  made  with  good  judgment,  and  I  do 
not  see  why  it  should  not  always  remain,  what  it  is 
to-day,  a  beautiful  and  an  appropriate  opening  for  a 
Christmas  service.  I  have  heard  people  quote  the 
added  lines,  and  innocently  attribute  them  to  the 
Puritan  poet,  instead  of  to  the  amending  Church 
man.  It  is  something  to  have  mingled  one's  words 
with  those  of  John  Milton  for  the  use  of  English- 
speaking  Christians. 


SOME  PILLAES   OF  THE  STATE. 


T  many  years  ago  I  was  standing  in  the  vesti- 
bule  of  the  Mechanics'  Charitable  Society  of 
Boston,  gazing  upon  a  full-length  portrait  which  was 
there  displayed.  An  intelligent  citizen,  near  middle 
life,  stopped  beside  me  and  asked  if  I  could  tell  him 
the  name  of  the  subject  of  the  picture.  I  started  at 
the  inquiry,  but,  supposing  that  the  eyesight  of  the 
visitor  might  be  defective,  replied,  "  Why,  Harrison 
Gray  Otis,  of  course."  "Ah !  and  who  is  Harrison 
Gray  Otis  ? "  was  the  rejoinder.  Well,  I  really  felt 
as  strangely  as  if  asked  a  similar  question  about 
George  Washington  or  John  Adams ;  for  in  the  good 
old  town  of  Boston,  where  I  had  grown  up,  inqui 
ries  concerning  these  latter  personalities  would  have 
seemed  no  whit  less  preposterous.  Mr.  Otis  was  once 
the  figure-head  of  our  community.  Graceful,  hand 
some,  eloquent,  wearing  worthily  the  mantle  of  his 
uncle,  James  Otis,  the  great  orator  of  the  Revolution, 
he  easily  took  the  first  place  in  Boston,  when  there 
was  a  decidedly  first  place  to  take.  Mr.  Otis  had 
represented  Massachusetts  in  the  United  States  Sen 
ate,  and  ardently  desired  to  be  governor  of  his  State ; 
but,  with  all  his  appreciation  of  the  felicities  of  office, 


SOME   HLLARS   OF  THE   STATE.  317 

there  was  one  thing  he  loved  still"  better,  and  that 
was  the  Federal  Party.  It  was  well  understood  that 
Otis  could  have  had  political  promotion  by  joining 
the  Democrats,  as  John  Quincy  Adams  and  others 
had  done ;  but  lie  had  been  a  delegate  to  the  Hart 
ford  Convention  and  stood  stanchly  by  the  conquered 
cause.  The  notice  in  my  journal  which  especially 
recalls  Mr.  Otis  is  found  in  an  account  of  a  great 
cattle-show  at  Worcester,  held  on  the  6th  of  October, 
1829.  "  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power,"  so  I  then 
wrote,  "  to  preserve  for  posterity  some  traces  of  the 
wit,  brilliancy,  eloquence,  and  urbanity  of  Harrison 
Gray  Otis ;  for  when  he  is  gone  there  is  no  man  who 
can  make  good  his  place  in  society."  A  festival  of 
rare  enjoyment  we  had.  The  show  and  the  dinner 
were  of  the  best.  A  bovine  procession  (I  think  there 
were  some  hundred  and  fifty  yoke  of  noble  oxen) 
passed  along  the  streets ;  the  speeches  by  Otis  and 
Everett  were  in  the  happiest  vein  ;  and  a  grand  ball 
concluded  the  day.  No,  it  did  not  conclude  it,  after 
all ;  for  near  midnight  some  gentlemen  from  Provi 
dence,  who  had  arrived  by  the  newly  opened  Black- 
stone  Canal,  invited  a  few  of  us  to  adjourn  to  a  room 
they  had  engaged  and  taste  some  of  "  Eoger  Williams 
Spring,"  which  they  had  brought  all  the  way  from 
the  settlement  he  founded.  Now  this  same  spring, 
as  it  turned  out,  ran  some  remarkably  choice  Madeira, 
and  this  beverage,  served  with  an  excellent  supper, 
furnished  the  material  basis  for  brilliant  displays  of 
wit,  flashing  out  upon  the  background  of  hearty  and 
genial  humor.  Mr.  Otis  fairly  surpassed  himself. 


318  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

He  was  simply  wonderful  in  repartee,  and  his  old- 
fashioned  stories  were  full  of  rollicking  fun.  I  well 
remember  the  account  he  gave  of  the  first  appearance 
of  champagne  in  Boston.  It  was  produced  at  a  party 
given  by  the  French  consul,  and  was  mistaken  by  his 
guests  for  some  especially  mild  cider  of  foreign  growth. 
The  scene  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  history,  to  be 
sure ;  but,  taken  as  a  sort  of  side-show,  it  was  very 
enjoyable.  Deacons,  as  well  as  civil  functionaries,  fig 
ured  among  the  actors  ;  but  I  decline  to  tax  my  mem 
ory  further.  If  it  is  not  necessary  to  refrain  when 
Heaven  sends  a  cheerful  hour,  as  John  Milton's 
sonnet  teaches  us,  it  is  surely  well  to  refrain  from 
reporting  it.  Mere  words  without  the  manner  and 
the  charm  of  the  speaker  are  like  the  libretto  of  an 
opera  without  the  music.  Take  this  for  a  specimen. 
I  remember  saying  to  Mr.  Otis,  apropos  to  something 
which  I  forget,  "  I  think,  sir,  your  wish  must  have 
been  father  to  the  thought."  He  turned  suddenly 
upon  me,  and  exclaimed,  "  Why  don't  you  give  the 
full  quotation,  — 

'Thy  wish  was  father,  Harry,  to  that  thought/  " 

"  Well,  sir,"  I  said,  "  I  did  not  think  it  would  be 
polite  to  address  you  as  Harry." 

"  Pooh !  pooh  !  Never,  while  you  live,  mutilate  a 
good  quotation  upon  such  a  punctilio  as  that." 

The  fun  is  faint  enough  as  here  written;  but  as 
"  Harry  Otis  "  -  for  so  his  contemporaries  called  him 
—  flashed  it  in  the  face  of  a  young  fellow  brought  up 
to  regard  him  as  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  State,  it 
glowed  with  the  perfection  of  social  humor. 


SOME   PILLARS    OF   THE    STATE.  319 

I  may  illustrate  the  intensity  of  Mr.  Otis's  Federal 
ism  by  mentioning  that  he  could  never  forgive  Judge 
Story  for  his  early  attachment  to  the  Democratic 
party.  On  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  the 
lawyers  celebrated  his  services  by  a  eulogy,  which 
was  succeeded  by  a  bar  dinner  at  East  Boston.  The 
friends  of  Joseph  Story  were  very  anxious  that  he 
should  be  appointed  to  the  vacant  place,  and  one  of 
them,  being  called  upon  for  a  toast,  recited  the  pas 
sage  where  Pharaoh  says  to  Joseph :  "  There  is  none 
so  discreet  and  wise  as  thou  art.  Thou  shalt  be  ruler 
over  my  house,  and  according  unto  thy  word  shall 
my  people  be  ruled."  The  hope  was  then  expressed 
that  the  American  executive  might  find  occasion  to 
use  similar  language.  The  toast-giver  (and  he  who 
now  tells  the  story  was  the  guilty  person)  felt  satis 
fied  with  the  aptness  of  his  quotation  and  the  com 
pliment  it  implied.  "  Joseph,  indeed  !  "  muttered 
Mr.  Otis,  when  the  sentiment  was  repeated  to  him. 
"  Why,  yes,  an  excellent  comparison.  Pray,  was  any- 
tiling  said  about  his  coat  of  many  colors  1 " 

Turning  backward  the  leaves  of  my  journal,  I  come, 
in  1827,  upon  entries  made  the  22d  of  November  and 
the  day  following.  Mr.  Otis  was  arguing  in  the  Su 
preme  Court,  and  I  have  noted  my  admiration  of  the 
graceful  finesse  with  which  he  held  our  attention  to 
a  case  of  the  very  dryest  description.  The  matter 
related  to  the  ownership  of  certain  lands  adjoining 
the  Mill  Pond,  which  then  occupied  a  large  cove  on 
the  northern  side  of  the  peninsula.  The  property 
had  formerly  been  owned  by  a  Mr.  Gee,  a  ship- 


320  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

builder,  who  held  large  estates  at  the  North  End. 
I  remember  a  joke  introducing  the  words  Trepl  TTJV 
^TJV  which  Mr.  Otis  made  upon  the  name  of  this 
land-loving  citizen ;  but  the  pronunciation  of  Greek 
at  present  in  vogue  at  Harvard  College  has  destroyed 
the  pun.  Some  question  arising  as  to  the  ownership 
of  the  sluiceway  which  emptied  the  pond,  Mr.  Otis 
took  occasion  to  introduce  an  account  of  the  feats  of 
swimming  he  had  performed  there  when  a  boy,  and 
then,  in  the  most  humorous  manner,  asserted  his  own 
title  to  the  property  on  the  ground  of  occupancy. 
"  At  least,"  he  added,  "  I  think  the  Court  will  ac 
knowledge  that  my  own  title  to  this  watercourse  is 
quite  as  valid  as  that  which  I  am  here  to  contest." 

Mr.  Otis  lived  for  many  years  after  his  active  life 
closed.  He  moved  with  difficulty,  being  sorely  afflicted 
with  the  gout  and  other  infirmities.  The  leader  of  his 
time  was  no  longer  recognized,  but  the  courtly  and 
genial  gentleman  survived  to  the  end.  I  remember 
that  he  owned  the  first  low-hung  carriage  which  was 
seen  in  Boston,  the  old  aristocratic  coaches  having 
formidable  flights  of  steps,  which  must  be  let  down 
before  the  passenger  could  climb  up  into  them.  One 
day  the  old  gentleman  appeared  upon  'Change  driven 
in  his  new  vehicle.  "  What  will  you  take  for  your 
carriage,  Mr.  Otis  ?  "  asked  a  friend,  by  way  of  ex 
pressing  his  admiration  for  this  unusual  turnout. 
"  The  worst  pair  of  legs  in  State  Street  !  "  was  the 
characteristic  reply. 

The  last  time  I  dined  with  Mr.  Otis  I  sat  with  him 
for  some  time  at  his  window,  which  looked  upon  the 


SOME   PILLARS    OF   THE   STATE.  321 

Common.  The  trees  had  just  put  on  their  perfect 
foliage,  and  I  remarked  upon  the  beauty  of  an  elm 
before  the  house.  "  When  I  came  to  this  place,"  said 
the  old  gentleman,  "  that  fine  tree  .was  a  sapling.  I 
have  seen  it  grow,  and  it  has  seen  me  decline.  It 
will  be  beautiful  and  stretch  its  branches  over  thou 
sands  long  after  I  am  forgotten."  At  the  table  that 
day  his  mind  seemed  to  be  running  upon  the  past. 
He  gave  sketches  of  men  once  of  note  and  conse 
quence,  whose  names  even  had  scarcely  reached  his 
younger  guests.  Those  names  were  empty  shells  to 
us, — as  empty  of  any  rich  and  vigorous  personality 
as  will  be  the  name  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis  to  the 
mass  of  readers  who  find  it  upon  this  page. 

It  is  a  great  pity  that  the  pew  of  the  royal  gov 
ernors  in  the  King's  Chapel  was  removed,  in  order 
that  two  plebeian  pews  might  be  constructed  upon 
its  ample  site.  I  used  greatly  to  value  this  interest 
ing  relic,  which  was  just  opposite  the  pew  that  I 
occupied.  It  stood  handsomely  out,  with  ornamented 
pillars  at  the  corners,  and  lifted  its  occupants  two 
feet  above  that  herd  of  miscellaneous  sinners  who 
confessed  their  miserable  estate  upon  the  level  of 
undiscriminating  democracy.  I  came  too  late  into 
the  world  to  see  a  royal  governor  enter  this  august 
pew,  though  the  ghosts  of  some  of  them  would  occa 
sionally  seem  to  steal  up  the  aisle  and  creep  into  it 
during  the  drowsier  passages  of  the  afternoon  sermon  : 
but  the  flesh -and-blood  personage  who  occupied  the 
pew  in  my  day  was,  so  to  speak,  as  good  a  governor 
as  the  best  of  them.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Massachu- 
21 


322  FIGURES    OF   THE    PAST. 

setts  governor,  too ;  and  surely'  there  could  be  no 
better  ideal  of  those  royal  qualities  which  should 
characterize  the  ruler  of  a  state  than  was  presented 
in  the  Federal  leader,  William  Sullivan.  How  that 
pew  of  royal  dignity  used  fairly  to  blossom  with  the 
large  and  lovely  family  of  which  he  was  the  head ! 
There  was  a  noble  poise  about  them  all ;  and  then 
they  were  so  handsome  that  it  seemed  quite  proper 
that  they  should  sit  a  foot  or  two  nearer  heaven  than 
the  rest  of  us.  Governor  Sullivan  left  four  sons,  who 
were  active  and  leading  men  during  my  early  man 
hood.  Several  of  them  had  large  families,  and  there 
was  every  prospect  that  the  name  would  long  be  per 
petuated  in  Boston;  but  this  once  powerful  family 
has  passed  away,  and  I  think  there  is  no  Sullivan  of 
their  blood  remaining  upon  the  spot  where  they  were 
so  conspicuous. 

I  happened  to  know  William  Sullivan  much  more 
intimately  than  young  men  commonly  know  their 
elders.  For  three  years  I  studied  law  in  his  office, 
and  of  course  came  into  daily  contact  with  him. 
The  good  lawyer,  he  used  to  tell  us,  should  be  a 
complete  and  well-rounded  man,  since  he  is  called 
to  the  most  varied  exercise  of  intellectual  power. 
Sullivan's  influence  on  the  bar  was  elevating,  and  in 
its  social  relations  (then  far  more  important  than 
now)  he  was  its  acknowledged  leader.  But  his  real 
love  was  for  literature,  and  he  used  to  regret  that 
there  is  so  little  means  of  discerning  in  early  life 
the  department  of  labor  for  which  each  one  is  best 
adapted.  Mr.  Sullivan  finally  withdrew  from  the 


SOME  PILLARS  OF  THE  STATE.        323 

practice  of  the  law,  and  wrote  some  excellent  books 
upon  ethical  and  historical  subjects.  His  letters 
upon  the  public  men  of  the  Eevolution  are  full  of 
intelligence,  and  will  always  be  valued  as  among  the 
best  sources  of  the  history  of  that  time.  He  wrote 
two  treatises  for  the  use  of  schools,  —  one  upon  the 
political,  the  other  upon  the  moral  duties  of  the 
American  citizen.  The  latter  was  an  admirable  text 
book  for  the  young;  but  as  it  appealed  to  the  truths 
of  revealed  religion  to  confirm  the  law  of  morals 
derived  from  the  created  universe,  it  has  been  long 
banished  from  our  public  schools.  But  men  of  the 
stamp  of  Sullivan  and  his  friend  Otis  were  more 
conspicuous  for  what  they  were  than  for  what  they 
did.  They  were  predominant  men,  and  gave  the  com 
munity  its  quality,  shaping,  as  if  by  divine  right,  its 
social  and  political  issues.  Who  exercises  a  similar 
function  to-day  ?  We  find  a  medley  of  railroad  kings 
and  learned  specialists,  who  are  not  without  their  in 
fluence  in  a  fragmentary  way ;  but  we  have  lost  that 
lay  priesthood  who  were  once  the  accepted  models 
of  high  living,  and  whose  qualifications  to  direct  the 
State  were  eminent  and  undisputed. 

In  no  respect  have  we  so  disadvantageous^  left 
behind  us  the  Boston  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  cen 
tury  as  in  the  ceremonies  of  dining.  The  dining-room 
was  the  temple  in  which  the  social  priesthood  to 
which  I  have  referred  were  accustomed  to  deliver 
their  oracles.  My  journals  continually  bear  witness 
to  the  interest  of  these  dinners,  which  went  forward 
in  the  cheerful  sunlight,  and  where  the  intellectual 


324  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

entertainment  was  far  more  prominent  than  the  de 
vices  of  the  cook.  There  were  no  flowers  and  but 
small  variety  in  meats  and  wines ;  but  the  conver 
sation  was  always  general  and  generally  of  the  best. 
A  tacit  understanding  assigned  the  prominent  parts 
to  those  able  to  discharge  them.  My  notes  preserve 
some  of  the  talk  of  these  old  Boston  dinners ;  but  I 
hesitate  to  quote  them,  because  they  are  too  meagre 
and  scattered  to  do  any  justice  to  the  subject.  Both 
Sullivan  and  Otis  were  largely  given  to  this  pleasant 
form  of  hospitality,  the  former  occasionally  adding 
his  gifts  as  a  singer  to  his  many  graces  as  a  host.  I 
can  hear  even  now  the  fine  English  songs  he  used  to 
give  us  ;  but  something  better  than  these  was  the 
exquisitely  courteous  manner  in  which  he  would  ask 
his  wife's  permission  to  exercise  this  talent.  "  Sally, 
may  I  sing  ? "  was  the  simple  formula,  but  the  words 
seemed  to  carry  all  the  tender  chivalry  of  a  natural 
gentleman. 

I  will  conclude  this  paper  with  recollections  of  a 
statesman  who  vigorously  impressed  himself  upon 
his  contemporaries.  This  was  Timothy  Pickering, 
or  Colonel  Pickering,  as  he  was  always  called,  though 
I  think  he  had  held  a  higher  military  rank  in  the 
army.  He  had  been  Secretary  of  War  and  Secretary 
of  State  under  Washington,  and  looked  "  a  soldier  fit 
to  stand  by  Caesar  and  give  direction."  Indeed,  the 
title  "  Old  Boman,"  which  has  been  absurdly  applied 
to  General  Jackson  and  divers  later  personages,  fitted 
Pickering  like  a  glove.  More  than  six  feet  high,  with 
a  frame  nobly  set  and  a  nose  with  the  true  Julian 


SOME  PILLARS  OF   THE   STATE.  325 

hook  in  it,  he  seemed  to  personify  the  martial  spirit 
of  the  Revolution.  He  was  worthy  to  have  supported 
Washington  at  the  battle  of  Brandywine.  Colonel 
Pickering  frequently  visited  my  father,  both  in  Bos 
ton  and  Quincy,  and  my  journal  gives  an  account  of 
his  dining  with  us  in  the  latter  place  on  the  13th  of 
August,  1821.  As  a  preliminary  ceremony  to  the 
dinner,  my  father,  who  was  an  enthusiast  in  agri 
culture,  insisted  upon  taking  his  guest  to  view  his 
crops  and  barnyard.  "  So  you  Ve  been  over  the  farm, 
Colonel  Pickering,"  said  my  mother,  upon  his  return 
to  the  house.  "  Why,  yes,  madame,"  was  the  reply. 
"  I  have  been  all  over  the  farm,  and  a  weary  tramp 
I've  had  of  it."  Pickering  was  himself  an  agricul 
turalist  of  no  small  repute;  but  he  found  his  own 
crops  more  interesting  than  those  of  other  people, 
and  was  honest  enough  or  blunt  enough  not  to  dis 
guise  his  feelings  with  conventional  civilities.  I 
have  sometimes  thought  that  this  speech  explains 
all  that  needs  explaining  of  his  difficulties  with  John 
Adams.  Both  were  plain-spoken  men,  and  probably 
exposed  their  minds  when  a  diplomatic  reserve  would 
have  been  politic,  if  not  praiseworthy. 

The  Colonel  was  a  masterly  talker,  and  entertained 
us  at  dinner  that  day  with  an  account  of  his  best- 
beloved  friend,  Judge  Peters,  of  Pennsylvania.  To 
his  substantial  qualities  he  declared  that  Peters  added 
a  wealth  of  the  lighter  social  graces  that  was  unsur 
passable.  Jefferson  had  asserted  that  if  all  the  good 
things  Peters  had  said  could  be  collected,  they  would 
make  a  mass  of  wit  greater  than  had  come  from  any 


326  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

other  human  being ;  and  this  his  friend  thought  was 
no  more  than  the  truth.  My  journal  preserves  sev 
eral  specimens  of  the  jests  of  this  magistrate;  but 
they  lie  flat  beneath  the  pressure  of  threescore  years, 
and  lack  the  vivid  acting  and  gestures  of  Colonel 
Pickering  tore-excite  the  "peals  of  laughter"  with 
which  I  mention  that  they  were  received.  One  will 
do  for  a  specimen.  Peters  was  known  to  be  troubled 
with  a  vertigo,  which  seized  him  at  unexpected  mo 
ments  and  caused  most  unpleasant  dizziness.  At  a 
certain  dinner,  where  his  voice  rose  clearly  above  the 
clash  of  crockery  and  buzz  of  conversation,  a  gentle 
man  called  out,  "  Well,  Judge,  I  see  you  manage  to 
keep  your  head  above  water  ! "  Back  flashed  the 
reply,  "Yes,  sir;  it  has  always  been  famous  for 
swimming."  But  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  ink  and 
paper  to  preserve  the  flavor  of  old  jokes.  They  should 
be  allowed  to  die,  and  be  newly  created  whenever 
posterity  may  require  them.  Of  all  the  lost  books 
of  the  ancient  world  that  "  Liber  Jocularis "  which 
recorded  the  puns  of  Cicero  is  least  to  be  lamented. 

Colonel  Pickering's  way  of  using  "  plain  words 
stript  of  their  shirts"  gave  his  narrations  a  sharp 
impression  of  reality.  The  story  of  his  abduction 
from  Wyoming  and  of  his  sufferings  in  chains  and 
captivity  must  be  found  somewhere  in  those  four 
bulky  volumes  of  his  biography;  but  to  hear  him 
tell  it  was  like  sharing  the  experience  in  his  com 
pany.  Life  has  become  too  crowded  to  admit  those 
exciting  postprandial  histories  with  which  the  sur 
vivors  of  the  Revolution  were  wont  to  favor  the 


SOME  PILLARS   OF  THE   STATE.  327 

younger  generations.  They  abounded  in  illustrations 
and  perhaps  in  snap  judgments ;  but  they  furnished 
aliment  for  thought  not  to  be  got  out  of  books.  No 
rust  of  old  age  had  touched  Colonel  Pickering.  He 
was  vigorous  to  the  last,  as  his  stormy  controversy 
with  President  Adams  remains  to  testify.  "  Exeunt 
fighting"  is  a  common  direction  in  Shakespeare's 
plays,  and  indeed,  if  the  adversary  be  well  chosen, 
there  are  many  worse  ways  in. which  brave  men 
might  leave  the  stage  of  life.  But  it  is  pleasant  to 
mention  that  these  venerable  heroes,  to  whom  our 
country  is  so  much  indebted,  put  aside  their  differ 
ences  when  they  met,  unexpectedly,  beneath  my 
father's  roof.  "I  hope  to  meet  Colonel  Pickering 
in  heaven,"  said  John  Adams ;  "  and  the  next  best 
place  to  meet  him  is  in  this  house."  The  scene 
has  been  so  well  described  by  my  brother,  Edmund 
Quincy,  in  his  biography  of  my  father,  that  I  do  not 
enlarge  upon  it  here. 


TWO  NOTABLE   WOMEN. 


A  T  some  hours  of  the  day  the  visitor  who  enters 
•*•    the  Boston  Athenaeum  will  find  more  women 
than  men  who  are  availing  themselves  of  its  privileges. 
Most  of  them,  I  suppose,  would  stare  were  they  told 
that  within  the  memory  of  a  living  person  it  re 
quired   a   certain   sort  of  heroism  for  one    of  their 
sex  to  appear  in  the  library.     When  the  Athenaeum 
was  in  Tremont  Street,  occupying  the  stuccoed  build 
ing  of  two  stories  which  stood  on  part  of  the  land 
now  occupied   by  the   Probate    Office,  one   solitary 
female  ventured  to  claim  the  freedom  of  its  alcoves 
and  to  endure  the  raising  of  the  masculine  eyebrows, 
provoked   by   the    unaccustomed   sight.      And    this 
"  woman  who  dared  "  was  the  famous  American  au 
thoress,  Miss  Hannah  Adams.     It  was  years  before 
any  sister  authoress  came  to   follow   her  example; 
but,  nothing  daunted,  the  little  lady  browsed  among 
the  books,  content  to  look  as  singular  and  as  much 
out  of  place  as  a  woman  of  to-day  would  look  who 
frequented  a  fashionable  club  designed  for  the  ex 
clusive  accommodation  of  males.     "  My  first  idea  of 
heaven,"  said   Miss   Adams,  "was  that  of  a  place 
where  my  thirst  for  knowledge  should  be  gratified." 


TWO   NOTABLE  WOMEN.  329 

And  when,  upon  her  arrival  in  Boston,  William  Smith 
Shaw  introduced  the  lady  to  the  library  he  had 
founded,  it  seemed  as  if  the  celestial  gates  could 
scarcely  open  upon  greater  privileges. 

I  was  well  acquainted  with  Miss  Hannah  Adarns, 
who  was  as  intimate  in  my  father's  family  as  a  person 
so  modest  and  retiring  could  be  anywhere.  She  often 
stayed  with  us  at  Quincy,  where  she  was  held  in  awe 
by  the  servants,  from  her  habit  of  talking  to  herself. 
This  seemed  to  them  a  very  weird  and  uncanny  pro 
ceeding  ;  but  our  guest  had  penetrated  a  world  where 
they  could  not  follow  her,  and  her  lips  unconsciously 
uttered  the  thoughts  that  it  suggested.  There  was  a 
story  illustrative  of  this  habit  of  hers  when  confined 
to  a  sphere  of  wholly  mundane  considerations.  A 
divinity  student,  who  was  going  from  Andover  to 
Boston,  thought  himself  in  great  luck  in  securing  a 
seat  in  the  stage  next  that  to  be  occupied  by  Miss 
Adams.  A  tete-d-tete  journey  with  the  great  author 
ess  was  a  delightful  prospect ;  and  the  young  gentle 
man  was  determined  to  turn  his  opportunity  to  the 
best  advantage  and  to  get  fresh  instalments  of  the 
wisdom  which  had  instructed  him  in  her  books. 
Alas!  the  fates  were  against  him.  It  chanced  that 
the  lady  was  travelling  with  an  unwonted  amount  of 
baggage,  and  the  fear  of  forgetting  any  of  its  compo 
nent  parts  continually  haunted  her  mind.  In  vain 
the  divinity  student  tempted  conversation  with  well- 
framed  questions.  The  answers  were  short  and  me 
chanical  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  were  given  were  heard 
the  words,  "  Great  box,  little  box,  bandbox  ! "  This 


330  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

refrain  was  uttered  in  a  tone  of  the  deepest  interest, 
and  was  repeated  at  short  intervals  throughout  the 
journey ;  and  this  was  really  all  that  this  young  in 
quirer  after  knowledge  could  get  from  his  ride  with 
the  famous  Miss  Adams.  "  Great  box,  little  box, 
bandbox  ! "  Could  it  be  that  the  rich  and  varied 
contents  of  the  lady's  mind  were  of  less  interest  to 
her  than  the  contents  of  those  mysterious  parcels 
she  had  in  charge  ?  Whether  the  embryo  minister 
extracted  any  moral  from  his  experience  the  story 
does  not  mention;  but  it  is  not  impossible  that  in 
some  future  sermon  he  said  that,  if  we  all  had  Miss 
Adams's  habit  of  speaking  out  our  thoughts,  too  many 
of  them  would  be  found  fixed  upon  the  mere  boxes 
and  bundles  we  carry  along  the  journey  of  life,  only 
to  drop  at  the  end  of  it.  Those  noble  powers  of 
mind  which  should  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  others 
are  crushed  and  paralyzed  by  the  pressure  of  these 
miserable  packages. 

The  younger  members  of  my  father's  family  had  an 
awful  interest  in  Miss  Adams,  as  being  one  of  those 
privileged  persons  who  had  stood  face  to  face  with  the 
supernatural.  It  was  known  that  the  great  authoress 
had  seen  a  ghost,  and  this  at  a  time  when  it  was  some 
distinction  to  have  done  so.  Evolution  may  possibly 
be  doing  something  for  the  improvement  of  men  and 
women,  but  its  failure  in  the  matter  of  ghosts  is  most 
lamentable.  The  vulgar  necromancy  which  now  offers 
its  wares  in  every  street  has  destroyed  that  sense  of 
the  ideal  which  the  old-fashioned  apparition  did  so 
much  to  cultivate.  I  shall  not  tell  the  story  of  the 


TWO   NOTABLE  WOMEN.  331 

ghost  who  used  to  haunt  the  old  Apthorp  house,  in 
the  town  of  Quincy,  to  a  generation  unworthy  to  hear 
it.  It  would  be  catalogued  among  the  herd  of  modern 
hysterical  wonders,  whose  tendency  is  to  degrade  the 
mind ;  and  this  would  be  to  wrong  its  solemn  signifi 
cance.  Miss  Adams,  on  rare  occasions  and  among 
her  intimate  friends,  would  tell  of  her  visitation  from 
the  other  world  with  a  confidence  in  its  authenticity 
that  was  very  impressive.  The  scene  was  in  a  farm 
house,  in  some  country  town  where  she  was  teaching 
school,  it  being  then  the  custom  for  the  schoolmis 
tress  to  board  for  periods  of  a  week  or  two  with  the 
parents  of  her  different  pupils.  Not  to  attempt  par 
ticulars,  which  are  imperfectly  remembered  and  of 
which  I  made  no  record,  it  may  be  said  that  the  form 
of  a  beloved  sister  appeared  (or  seemed  to  appear)  to 
Miss  Adams  in  the  dead  watches  of  the  night,  and 
that  the  living  lady  was  so  frightened  that  she  called 
lustily  for  help  and  brought  the  family  to  her  cham 
ber.  As  we  listened  to  the  story,  we  could  not  but 
share  the  narrator's  confidence  in  the  objective  char 
acter  of  the  vision,  and  the  conclusion  of  the  tale  (in 
the  minds  of  the  younger  auditors,  at  least)  testified 
to  the  wonderful  pluck  of  the  authoress.  "  I  did  very 
wrong  to  allow  rny  fears  to  get  the  better  of  me,"  she 
used  to  say.  "  Was  it  not  my  dear  sister,  who  was 
devoted  to  me  in  this  world  and  who  would  not  be 
less  loving  in  the  next  ?  And  what  do  you  think  I 
did  ?  I  dismissed  the  family  who  had  come  to  me, 
blew  out  the  light  they  brought  me,  and  passed  the 
rest  of  the  night  in  perfect  tranquillity."  This  is 


332  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

certainly  not  a  sensational  ending  to  a  ghost  story ; 
but  it  is  a  conclusion  so  sensible  that  it  deserves 
preservation. 

When  I  call  Miss  Adams  a  famous  authoress,  I 
speak  in  the  language  of  a  time  when  she  had  abso 
lutely  no  competitors.  Her  "  Dictionary  of  Keligions  " 
went  through  four  editions  in  this  country,  and  was 
republished  in  England,  —  a  high  honor  in  the  days 
when  British  scorn  was  poured  on  all  American  books. 
Upon  her  "  History  of  New  England  "  she  lost  money, 
and,  what  was  still  worse,  the  use  of  her  eyes  for  a 
period  of  two  years.  Hoping  to  mend  her  fortunes 
from  an  abridgment  of  this  latter  book,  she  was 
greatly  injured  by  the  action  of  a  person  of  some 
literary  ability,  who  made  a  contemporaneous  publi 
cation  of  a  similar  character.  A  controversy  arose, 
and  pamphlets  overgrown  into  volumes  were  placed 
before  the  public.  It  is  sufficient  here  to  say  that 
Miss  Adams's  friends  were  very  indignant  at  the 
treatment  she  received.  She  herself,  however,  bore 
the  injury  in  the  sweetest  spirit  of  Christian  charity; 
and  if  the  conversation  strayed  to  this  painful  sub 
ject,  she  would  turn  it  at  once  with  a  kind  remark 
about  the  person  who  (as  she  and  her  friends  con 
ceived)  had  so  grievously  wronged  her.  An  annual 
pension  was  settled  upon  Miss  Adams,  to  which  most 
of  the  leading  men  of  Boston  contributed,  and  it  was 
my  duty  to  collect  the  amount  from  the  subscribers 
and  pay  it  into  her  hands.  An  oil  painting  of  this 
brave  American  lady,  who  had  studied  Latin  and 
Greek  and  had  written  books,  seemed  to  be  among 


TWO   NOTABLE  WOMEN.  333 

the  rights  of  posterity.  The  artist  Harding  was,  ac 
cordingly,  employed  to  furnish  a  portrait,  which  was 
given  to  the  Boston  Athenaeum ;  and  there  it  should 
ever  have  remained,  as  a  memorial  of  the  first  woman 
who  valued  the  privileges  of  that  fine  library  and 
laboriously  used  them  for  the  public  good.  In  the 
Art  Museum,  where  it  now  hangs,  the  likeness  of 
this  modest  lady  is  lost  in  a  crowd  of  painted  celeb 
rities,  and  the  significance  of  its  original  position  is 
wholly  gone.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  literary 
women  of  Boston  will  use  their  influence  to  bring 
back  this  portrait  of  Miss  Adams  to  the  institution 
which  should  never  have  parted  with  it.  There  are 
enough  busts  of  men  in  the  beautiful  book-hall  of 
the  Athena3um  to  run  a  nominating  caucus,  or,  at 
any  rate,  the  more  important  pre-caucus,  which  really 
does  the  business.  I  feel  sure  they  would  all  agree 
that  the  women  of  old  days  are  entitled  to  at  least 
one  representative  in  that  hall;  and  that  Hannah 
Adams,  the  pioneer  of  feminine  culture  in  America, 
should  there  smile  upon  her  sisters  who  have  beaten 
a  broad  path  where  her  solitary  footsteps  once  trod. 

There  are  persons  among  us,  not  very  far  past 
middle  life,  who  remember  Daniel  Webster  in  his  old 
age,  and  who  will  readily  admit  that  in  the  third 
decade  of  the  century,  when  he  was  in  vigorous  ma 
turity,  no  nobler  specimen  of  a  man  could  have  been 
found  on  this  planet;  but  these  same  persons  may 
say  that  the  doctrine  of  chances  wellnigh  negatives 
the  supposition  that  during  that  third  decade  Boston 
possessed  a  woman  who  as  completely  filled  the  ideal 


334  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

of  the  lovely  and  the  feminine  as  did  Webster  the 
ideal  of  the  intellectual  and  the  masculine.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  such  pardonable  incredulity,  there 
are  a  few  old  people  still  living  who  will  justify  me 
in  saying  that  this  was  indeed  the  fact,  and  that 
centuries  are  likely  to  come  and  go  before  society 
will  again  gaze  spell-bound  upon  a  woman  so  richly 
endowed  with  beauty  as  was  Miss  Emily  Marshall. 
I  well  know  the  peril  which  lies  in  superlatives,  — 
they  were  made  for  the  use  of  very  young  persons  ; 
but  in  speaking  of  this  gracious  lady  even  the  cooling 
influences  of  more  than  half  a  century  do  not  enable 
me  to  avoid  them.  She  was  simply  perfect  in  face 
and  figure,  and  perfectly  charming  in  manners. 

In  the  year  1821  the  fashionable  walk  of  the  town 
was  upon  Dover  Street  Bridge,  then  known  in  popu 
lar  parlance  (out  of  compliment  to  the  lovers  who 
were  to  be  met  there)  as  the  Bridge  of  Sighs.  It 
stretched  from  South  Boston  to  Washington  Street, 
and  traversed  a  fine  sheet  of  water,  much  of  which 
has  long  been  made  land.  One  afternoon  in  the  year 
just  mentioned  I  was  taking  my  customary  walk  upon 
the  bridge,  and  had  reached  a  spot  near  where  Har 
rison  Avenue  now  crosses  Dover  Street,  when  I  de 
scried  approaching  a  well-known  gentleman,  who  was 
universally  designated  as  Beau  Watson.  He  was 
walking  with  a  lady  whose  wonderful  beauty  riveted 
my  attention.  That  was  the  first  time  I  saw  Miss 
Marshall,  and  the  time,  the  place,  the  emotion  of 
astonishment,  are  fixed  indelibly  in  my  memory. 
After  this  the  lady's  name  has  frequent  appearance 


TWO   NOTABLE  WOMEN.  335 

in  my  journals.  On  Friday,  May  24,  1822  (it  is 
well  to  be  accurate  about  dates),  I  met  her  walking 
in  the  street  with  her  friend,  Miss  Dana,  and  prose 
was  not  good  enough  to  express  my  sense  of  her 
loveliness.  And  again,  on  the  7th  of  February,  in 
the  following  year,  in  my  description  of  Mrs.  Blake's 
party,  come  the  words :  "  Miss  Marshall  stood  un 
rivalled.  She  is  the  most  beautiful  creature  I  ever 
saw."  And  then  I  relieve  my  feelings  in  a  wretched 
epigram.  The  rhymes  shall  be  mercifully  suppressed. 
Their  conceit  is  that  the  goddess  of  beauty,  out  of 
compliment  to  her  lover,  Mars,  has  herself  appeared 
in  a  form  which  is  martial  Can  any  of  the  aged 
and  decayed  punsters,  for  whom  Dr.  Holmes  has 
generou§ly  endowed  an  asylum,  show  better  claim 
to  participate  in  his  charity  ?  But  Miss  Marshall 
has  been  celebrated,  and  in  print,  too,  by  a  real  poet, 

at  least,  we  thought  Mr.  Percival  a  poet  in  those 

simple  days,  —  and  his  verses  beginning 

"  Maid  of  the  laughing  lip  and  frolic  eye  !  " 

testify  to  the  enthusiasm  she  enkindled  in  his  breast. 
I  could  copy  further  notices  of  this  lady  from  my 
journals,  were  it  worth  while  to  do  so.  Here  she  is  at 
Mathews's  last  appearance  before  a  Boston  audience 
(January  28,  1823),  "making  the  theatre  beautiful 
by  her  presence."  Again  (it  is  the  night  of  Febru 
ary  13th,  the  year  following),  a  house  in  Franklin 
Street,  just  by  the  theatre,  is  lighted  for  company, 
and  Miss  Marshall  receives  her  guests  with  such  in 
finite  grace  of  manner  that  one  of  them,  at  least,  does 


336  '  FIGURES  *OF  THE  PAST. 

not  rest  before  he  sets  down  his  admiration  in  black 
and  white.     And  this  perfect  personation  of  loveli 
ness  was  beloved  by  women  no  less  than  she  was 
admired  by  men.     "  What  more  shall  I  say  of  Miss 
Marshall?"    I   asked   a   lady  who  well   remembers 
her.     And  this  was  the  reply  :  "  Say  that  no  envious 
thought  could  have  been  possible  in  her   presence ; 
that  her  sunny  ways  were  fascinating  to  all  alike; 
that  she  was  as  kind  and  attentive  to  the  stupid  and 
tedious  as  if  they  were  talented  and  of  social  promi 
nence."     I   suppose   that  not   many  readers  of  the 
present  day  know  much  about  the  poet  Mason,  or 
have  ever  heard  of  his  lines  on  the  death  of  Lady 
Coventry,  the  famous  Miss  Gunning  of  Horace  Wai- 
pole's  letters ;  and  so  I  will  quote  two  of  his  stanzas, 
which,  applied  to  Miss  Marshall,  give  some  of  her 
characteristics  with  absolute  accuracy  and  just   as 
they  live  in  my  memory. 

"  Whene'er  with  soft  serenity  she  smiled, 

Or  caught  the  Orient  blush  of  quick  surprise, 
How  sweetly  mutable,  how  brightly  mild, 
The  liquid  lustre  darted  from  her  eyes. 

"  Each  look,  each  motion,  waked  a  new-born  grace 

That  o'er  her  form  its  transient  glory  cast ; 
Some  lovelier  wonder  soon  usurped  the  place, 
Chased  by  a  charm  still  lovelier  than  the  last." 

The  beauties  of  society  have  no  longer  the  national 
fame  which  they  once  enjoyed.  During  the  decade 
of  1820  who  had  not  heard  of  the  three  great  belles 
of  the  country,  —  Miss  Cora  Livingston,  of  New  Or 
leans  ;  Miss  Julia  Dickenson,  of  Troy ;  and  Miss  Emily 


TWO   NOTABLE  WOMEN.  337 

Marshall,  of  Boston  ?  Two  of  these  ladies  had  the 
large  wealth  and  conspicuous  position  of  their  parents 
to  aid  them  in  attaining  the  sovereignty  they  exer 
cised;  but  Miss  Marshall  took  the  supreme  place 
without  these  aids.  With  her  no  struggle  for  social 
recognition  was  necessary.  She  simply 'stood  before 
us  a  reversion  to  that  faultless  type  of  structure  which 
artists  have  imagined  in  the  past,  and  to  that  ideal 
loveliness  of  feminine  disposition  which  poets  have 
placed  in  the  mythical  golden  age. 


22 


SOME  RAILROAD   INCIDENTS. 


f  SHALL  merely  glance  at  a  great  subject.  The 
A  story  of  the  inside  management  of  our  earlier 
railroads  is  aside  from  the  purpose  of  the  present 
papers.  Students  of  finance  would  be  interested  in 
the  perplexities  which  were  surmounted,  the  expe 
dients  that  were  tried,'  the  bitter  opposition  that  was 
worked  down ;  but  for  the  general  reader  it  is  suffi 
cient  to  say  that  the  Massachusetts  railroads  were 
built  by  patriotic  men  for  the  public  benefit.  Few 
believed  in  them  as  investments,  and  the  State,  when 
her  franchise  was  asked,  burdened  it  with  a  condition 
most  creditable  to  the  foresight  of  her  legislators.  I 
quote  the  protective  clause,  which  permits  the  peo 
ple  to  foreclose  on  any  one  of  the  old  railroads  when 
ever  they  choose  to  do  so :  — 

"  The  Commonwealth  may  at  any  time  during  the 
continuance  of  a  charter  of  any  railroad  corporation, 
after  the  expiration  of  twenty  years  from  the  open 
ing  of  said  railroad  for  use,  purchase  of  the  corpora 
tion  the  said  railroad  and  all  the  franchise,  property, 
rights,  arid  privileges  of  the  corporation,  by  paying 
them  therefor  such  a  sum  as  will  reimburse  them  the 
amount  of  capital  paid  in,  with  a  net  profit  thereon 


SOME   RAILROAD  INCIDENTS.  339 

of  ten  per  cent  per  annum  from  the  time  of  the  pay 
ment  thereof  by  the  stockholders  to  the  time  of  such 
purchase." 

There  is  statesmanship  looking  out  for  to-morrow, 
as  well  as  for  to-day  !  Let  us  remember  this  when 
we  are  disposed  to  rail  at  the  lack  of  intelligence  in 
our  democratic  legislation.  Proceeding  upon  the  same 
line,  Massachusetts,  before  giving  her  last  instalment 
of  assistance  to  the  road  connecting  her  capital  with 
Albany  and  the  West,  reserved  the  right  to  purchase 
the  same  by  paying  the  par  value  of  the  shares,  with 
seven  per  cent  thereon.  It  would  take  many  millions 
of  dollars  to  measure  the  value  of  these  morsels  of 
legislation  to  the  Bay  State.  It  might  be  worth  dol 
lars  to  be  reckoned  by  the  hundred  million  had  all 
our  States  similar  writings  upon  their  statute  books. 
It  is  not  the  actual  use  of  such  reserved  rights,  but 
their  existence  in  terrorem,  which  protects  the  in 
terests  of  society  against  the  greed  of  some  small 
minority  of  its  members.  In  1867  I  petitioned  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts  to  exercise  its  power  of 
purchase  in  the  interest  of  the  people,  and  to  assume 
the  ownership  of  the  railroads  connecting  us  with 
the  West.  The  mighty  corporations  took  the  field 
like  regular  armies,  well  officered,  well  disciplined, 
and  with  a  full  commissariat.  The  people,  so  far  as 
they  could  be  heard  from,  were  full  of  spirit ;  but  they 
were  an  unorganized  militia,  without  available  funds 
to  provide  leaders  and  fee  lawyers.  The  corporations 
managed  to  prevent  a  purchase,  which  would  have 
doubled  the  business  of  Boston,  and,  by  its  influence 


340  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

upon  other  roads,  would  have  gone  far  to  settle  the 
question  of  cheap  transportation.      But  the  popular 
feeling  was  so  strong  that  the  legislature  was  com 
pelled  to  give  much  that  was  wanted,  though  not  all 
that  was  asked.     The  railroads  were  compelled  to  do 
something  to  earn  the  ten  per  cent  which  they  ex 
acted  from  the  public  ;  some  of  it,  too,  representing 
no  legitimate  outlay  in  stock.     On  the  19th  of  April, 
1880,  my  journal  records  a  chance  meeting  with  the 
late  Judge  Colt,  one  of  the  able  counsel  who  were 
retained  for  the  railroads.     He  spoke  of  the  revival 
of  commercial  interests  and  of  the  increase  of  gen 
eral  prosperity  which  had  resulted  from  the  compul 
sory   union   of  the   Western   and  Worcester  roads, 
together  with  the  fiat  of  the  legislature,  which  obliged 
the  tracks  to  be  carried  to  deep  water.     "  You  would 
never  have  brought  this  about,"  he  said,  "  had  it  not 
been  for  that  power  of  purchase  which  the  State  had 
reserved.     That   was  the    fulcrum    upon    which  the 
lever  rested  by  which  inert  masses  were  moved  aside 
for  the  benefit  of  the  public."     It  was  even  so. 

There  was  one  question  which  could  not  be  avoided 
after  the  establishment  of  railroads :  "  What  are  the 
rights  of  negroes  in  respect  to  this  new  mode  of  lo 
comotion  ? "  And  the  general  voice  of  the  commu 
nity  replied  in  the  usual  chorus,  "  Neither  here  nor 
elsewhere  have  they  any  rights  which  a  white  man 
is  bound  to  respect."  The  prejudice  against  persons 
of  color  can  be  but  faintly  realized  at  the  present 
time.  No  public  conveyance  would  carry  them ;  no 
hotel  would  receive  them,  except  as  servants  to  a 


SOME  RAILROAD  INCIDENTS.         341 

white  master.  The  day  in  May  when  our  State  gov 
ernment  was  organized  was  universally  called  "  Nigger 
'Lection,"  because  on  that  day  negroes  were  accorded 
the  privilege  of  appearing  on  the  Common  ;  whereas, 
if  one  of  this  class  of  citizens  presumed  to  enter  the 
Common  on  Artillery  Election  (which  took  place 
about  a  month  later),  he  was  liable  to  be  pursued  and 
stoned  by  a  crowd  of  roughs  and  boys.  After  the 
Providence  Kailroad  opened  the  shortest  route  to 
New  York,  it  was  found  that  an  appreciable  number 
of  the  despised  race  demanded  transportation.  Scenes 
of  riot  and  violence  took  place,  and  in  the  then  exist 
ing  state  of  opinion,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  diffi 
culty  could  best  be  met  by  assigning  a  special  car  to 
our  colored  citizens.  Some  of  our  cars  were  then 
arranged  like  the  old  stage-coaches,  —  there  being 
three  compartments  upon  a  truck.  These  coaches 
communicated  only  by  a  small  window  at  the  top, 
and  one  of  the  compartments  I  assigned  for  the  ex 
clusive  use  of  colored  persons.  One  morning  at 
Providence  I  entered  the  middle  carriage,  and  was 
presently  attracted  by  voices  in  the  next  division,  — 
that  allotted  to  travellers  of  the  black  race.  I  arose 
and  looked  through  the  little  window  just  mentioned, 
and  saw  that  a  Southern  gentleman  (if  by  a  stretch 
of  courtesy  he  may  be  so  called)  had  entered  the 
compartment,  which  was  occupied  by  a  well-dressed 
negro,  who  wore  spectacles.  The  Southerner  was 
evidently  much  excited  at  finding  a  negro  taking  his 
ease  in  a  first-class  carriage.  There  had  been  some 
words  between  them,  which  I  did  not  perfectly  hear. 


342  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

What  I  did  hear  upon  taking  my  position  at  the  lit 
tle  window  was  this  :  Southerner.  You  black  rascal, 
so  you  're  a  voter  here,  are  you  ?  Negro.  Yes,  I  am 
a  free  citizen  and  a  voter.  Southerner.  Well,  I  have 
taken  just  such  fellows  as  you  and  tied  them  up 
by  their  thumbs  and  whipped  them  till  the  blood  ran 
down  to  their  heels.  Negro.  Then,  sir,  you  shed  your 

brother's  blood.     Southerner.    Why,  you nigger, 

you  don't  mean  to  say  that  I  'm  your  brother  ?  Ne 
gro.  Yes ;  for  it  is  written  that  "  He  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  the  face  of 
the  earth."  The  effect  of  this  quotation  was  as  the 
last  straw  upon  the  burdened  camel.  It  fairly  broke 
the  patience  of  the  knightly  personage  who  had  en 
tered  the  carriage.  He  instantly  sprang  upon  the 
negro,  catching  him  by  the  collar  ;  and  almost  as 
quickly  I  entered  the  compartment  and  ordered  him 
to  desist. 

"  Well,  who  are  you  ? "  said  the  assailant,  with  a 
mighty  oath.  I  replied  that  I  was  the  president  of 
the  road,  and  should  see  that  he  was  arrested  if  lie 
did  not  immediately  leave  the  carriage ;  and,  having 
said  this,  I  added  a  few  words  of  measureless  con 
tempt  for  his  conduct.  Muttering  some  profanity, 
the  man  left  the  compartment,  while  I  called  the 
conductor  to  show  him  to  the  proper  coach.  At  that 
time  the  trains  made  quite  a  stop  at  Mansfield,  dur 
ing  which  most  of  the  passengers  left  the  cars.  I 
was  standing  upon  the  platform  of  that  way-station, 
when  the  Southerner  approached  me,  with  a  beaming 
face  and  all  the  suavity  of  manner  which  was  charac- 


SOME   RAILROAD   INCIDENTS. 


343 


teristic  of  slaveholders  when  upon  their  good  behav 
ior  at  the  North.  He  gracefully  apologized  for  his 
conduct,  saying  that  he  was  not  accustomed  to  see 
negroes  treated  as  white  persons,  and  that  the  sud 
den  introduction  to  such  a  spectacle  had  caused  an 
excitement  that  he  was  unable  to  control.  Before 
he  had  finished  speaking,  we  were  joined  by  the 
negro,  who,  in  a  manner  no  less  gentlemanly,  thanked 
me  for  my  interference,  and,  producing  a  handsome 
pocket-book,  offered  me  his  card.  The  amazement 
with  which  the  gentleman  from  the  South  regarded 
this  proceeding  is  altogether  indescribable.  His  blank 
and  helpless  astonishment  was  of  the  sort  which  might 
be  succeeded  by  a  burst  of  indignation  or  a  burst  of 
laughter.  Fortunately  the  comic  side  of  this  latter- 
day  warning  at  length  succeeded  in  making  itself 
predominant. 

«  Well,  take  me  home  ! "  he  said.  "  I  've  seen  all  I 
came  for.  Spectacles  were  good ;  but  a  nigger  with 
a  visiting-card  !  It  just  knocks  me  down  and  makes 
me  as  weak  as  a  baby.  A  nigger  with  a  visiting- 
card  !  Well,  I  am  surely  dreaming,  and  that 's  a 
fact." 

The  above  incident  is  an  extreme  illustration  of  a 
state  of  feeling  which  has  happily  passed  away.  Its 
inhumanity  was  only  equalled  by  its  vulgarity.  The 
existence  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States  presented 
a  difficult  problem  to  thoughtful  and  patriotic  citi 
zens,  and  good  men  were  unable  to  agree  upon  the 
path  of  duty. 

The  sources  from  which  mighty  rivers  take  their 


344  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

rise  have  always  been  interesting  to  explorers.  They 
find  some  petty  rivulet,  which  oozes  out  of  the  mud, 
and  marvel  that  its  feeble  current  should  swell  till 
it  bears  the  commerce  of  a  nation.  The  beginnings 
of  great  departments  of  human  enterprise  have  some 
thing  of  the  same  interest,  and  I  have  just  found  an 
old  letter,  addressed  to  me  on  the  27th  of  October, 
1838,  which  led  to  results  quite  overpowering  in 
their  magnitude.  The  writer  is  William  F.  Harnden. 
He  tells  me  that  he  has  applied  for  a  post  of  con 
ductor  upon  the  Western  Railroad,  and  solicits  my 
influence,  as  treasurer  of  the  road,  "  should  you  think 
me  worthy  of  the  office."  Harnden  had  been  selling 
tickets  at  the  Worcester  Eailroad  depot,  but  found 
this  occupation  much  too  sedentary  for  his  active 
nature.  He  was  a  man  who  wanted  to  be  moving. 
For  some  reason,  which  I  do  not  recall,  Harnden  did 
not  get  the  conductorship ;  but  his  application  brought 
me  in  contact  with  this  lithe,  intelligent  young  fellow, 
who  wished  to  be  on  the  go,  and  I  suggested  to  him 
a  new  sort  of  business,  which  in  the  hands  of  a  bright 
man  I  thought  might  be  pushed  to  success.  As 
director  and  president  of  the  Providence  Railroad,  I 
was  compelled  to  make  weekly  journeys  to  New 
York,  where  the  bulk  of  our  stock  was  held.  The 
days  of  my  departure  were  well  known,  and  I  was 
always  met  at  the  depot  by  a  bevy  of  merchants' 
clerks,  who  wished  to  intrust  packages  of  business 
papers,  samples  of  goods,  and  other  light  matters  to 
my  care.  The  mail  establishment  was  at  that  time 
utterly  insufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  public. 


SOME   RAILROAD   INCIDENTS.  345 

The  postage  was  seventeen  cents  upon  every  separate 
bit  of  paper,  and  this  was  a  burdensome  tax  upon  the 
daily  checks,  drafts,  and  receipts  incident  to  mercan 
tile  transactions.  I  was  ready  to  be  of  service  to  my 
friends,  though  some  of  them  thought  my  good  nature 
was  imposed  upon  when  they  found  that  I  was  obliged 
to  carry  a  large  travelling-bag  to  receive  their  con 
tributions.  I  kept  this  bag  constantly  in  sight  on 
my  journey,  and,  upon  arriving  in  New  York,  deliv 
ered  it  to  a  man  whom  the  merchants  employed  to 
meet  me  and  distribute  its  contents.  Now,  it  oc 
curred  to  me  that  here  was  an  opportunity  for  some 
body  to  do,  for  an  adequate  compensation,  just  what 
I  was  doing  for  nothing.  I  pointed  out  to  Mr.  Harn- 
den  that  the  collection  and  delivery  of  parcels,,  as 
well  as  their  transportation,  might  be  undertaken  by 
one  responsible  person,  for  whose  services  the  mer 
chants  would  be  glad  to  pay.  The  suggestion  fell 
upon  fruitful  soil.  Harnden  asked  me  for  special 
facilities  upon  the  Boston  and  Providence  road,  which 
I  gladly  gave  him,  and  with  the  opening  year  he 
commenced  regular  trips  (twice  a  week,  I  think  he 
made  them),  bearing  in  his  hand  a  small  valise ;  and 
that  valise  contained  in  germ  the  immense  express 
business, —  contained  it  as  the  acorn  contains  the 
forest  of  oaks  that  may  come  from  it ;  but  many  gen 
erations  are  required  to  see  the  magnificence  of  the 
forests,  while  the  growths  of  human  enterprise  ex 
pand  to  their  wonderful  maturity  in  one  short  life. 
Harnden's  fate  was  that  too  common  with  pioneers 
and  inventors.  He  built  up  a  great  business  by  steady 


346  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

industry,  saw  all  its  splendid  possibilities,  tried  to 
realize  them  before  the  time  was  ripe,  and  died  a 
poor  man,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three.  In  attempting 
to  extend  the  express  business  to  Europe,  he  assumed 
risks  that  were  ruinous,  and  the  stalwart  Vermonter, 
Alvin  Adams,  took  his  place  as  chief  in  the  great 
industry  which  had  arisen  under  his  hands.1 

"  When  you  speak  of  the  opposition  that  our  early 
railroads  encountered,"  said  a  young  man  to  me  the 
other  day,  "  you  refer,  of  course,  to  the  difficulty  of 
inducing   people   to   take   stock   in   them.     Nobody 
could  have  objected  to  the  increase  of  facilities  for 
transportation,  provided  he  was  not  asked  to  pay  the 
bills."     But  it  happened  that  I  did  mean  just  what 
I  said;  and  perhaps  the  most  singular  phenomenon 
in  the  history  of  early  railroads  was  the  bitter  oppo 
sition    they   encountered   from  leading   men,  whose 
convenience  and  pecuniary  interests  they  were  di 
rectly  to  promote.     The  believer  in  railroads  was  not 
only  obliged   to   do  the  work  and  pay  the  bills  for 
the  advantage  of  his  short-sighted  neighbor,  but,  as 
Shakespeare  happily  phrases  it,  "  cringe  and  sue  for 

1  It  may  be  worth  while  to  mention  that  after  the  publication 
of  this  paper  the  author  received  a  newspaper  cutting  which  chal 
lenged  his  title  to  the  first  suggestion  of  Harnden's  Express.  His 
remark  was  that,  as  the  business  was  clearly  called  for,  a  similar 
suggestion  might  have  come  from  twenty  others,  and  that  the  ques 
tion  of  priority  would  be  as  difficult  to  settle  as  it  was  unimportant. 
He  found  nothing  to  alter  in  his  printed  statement.  He  believed 
himself  to  have  been  the  first  expressman  after  the  manner  narrated 
in  the  text,  and  was  sure  that  he  had  advised  Mr.  Hamden  to  sue- 
ceed  him  as  the  second. 


SOME  RAILROAD  INCIDENTS.         347 

leave  to  do  him  good."  Can  I  furnish  proof  of  this 
incredible  statement  ?  Yes,  I  have  it  before  me  at 
this  moment,  and  it  is  worth  giving  with  some  detail. 
The  old  town  of  Dorchester,  which  some  years  ago 
was  annexed  to  Boston,  has  within  its  ancient  limits 
nine  railroad  stations,  and  at  those  most  frequented 
about  fifty  trains  stop  daily.  The  main  road,  known 
as  the  Old  Colony,  passes  over  a  route  which  I  caused 
to  be  surveyed  at  my  own  expense,  with  the  view  of 
providing  cheap  transportation  for  the  towns  of  Dor 
chester  and  Quincy  and  others  to  the  south  of  them. 
I  need  not  say  that  the  land  made  accessible  by  this 
railroad  has  become  very  valuable,  and  that  the  busi 
ness  and  population  of  the  old  town  of  Dorchester 
cluster  about  the  stations.  If  any  tyrant  could  tear 
up  those  tracks  and  prevent  them  from  being  relaid, 
his  action  would  paralyze  a  prosperous  community, 
and  might  well  be  called  a  calamity  by  those  most 
careful  in  weighing  their  words.  Now,  can  the  reader 
believe  that  the  very  word  I  have  Italicized  was 
chosen  so  late  as  1842  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 
of  Dorchester,  in  regular  town-meeting,  assembled  to 
express  their  sense  of  the  injury  that  would  result  to 
them  and  their  possessions  by  laying  a  railroad  track 
through  any  portion  of  their  territory  ?  No,  there 
can  be  no  mistake  about  it.  Here  is  the  report  of 
their  meeting,  authentic  in  contemporaneous  type, 
and  duly  attested  by  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Tolman,  town 
clerk.  A  leading  business  man  was  chosen  modera 
tor,  and  a  committee  of  six  prominent  citizens  was 
appointed  to  oppose  the  passage  of  a  railroad  through 


348  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

the  town.  The  resolutions  are  worth  reporting  with 
some  fulness.  The  first  declares  it  to  be  the  opinion 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Dorchester  that  a 
railroad  upon  either  of  the  lines  designated  by  those 
asking  for  a  charter  "  will  be  of  incalculable  evil  to 
the  town  generally,  in  addition  to  the  immense  sacri 
fice  of  private  property  which  will  also  be  involved. 
A  great  portion  of  the  road  will  lead  through  thickly 
settled  and  populous  parts  of  the  town,  crossing  and 
running  contiguous  to  public  highways,  and  thereby 
making  a  permanent  obstruction  to  a  free  intercourse 
of  our  citizens,  and  creating  great  and  enduring  dan 
ger  and  hazard  to  all  travel  upon  the  common  roads." 
The  second  resolution  declares  that  if,  in  spite  of  the 
protest  of  the  inhabitants  of  Dorchester,  their  town 
must  be  blighted  by  a  railroad,  "  it  should  be  located 
upon  the  marshes  and  over  creeks,"  and  by  thus 
avoiding  all  human  habitations  and  business  resorts 
"  a  less  sacrifice  will  be  made  of  private  property  and 
a  much  less  injury  inflicted  upon  the  town  and  public 
generally."  The  concluding  resolution  is  one  of  those 
jewels  (rather  more  than  five  words  long)  that  must 
suffer  by  any  curtailment :  — 

"Resolved,  That  our  representatives  be  instructed 
to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  prevent,  if  possible, 
so  great  a  calamity  to  our  town  as  must  ~be  the  location 
of  any  railroad  through  it;  and,  if  that  cannot  be 
prevented,  to  diminish  this  calamity  as  far  as  possible 
by  confining  the  location  to  the  route  herein  desig 
nated." 

The  Italics  are,  of  course,  mine.     They  are  quite 


SOME   RAILEOAD   INCIDENTS.  349 

irresistible.  But  when  "calamities"  threaten,  the 
good  man  does  not  do  his  whole  duty  by  protesting 
in  town-meeting.  There  is  the  powerful  agency  of 
the  press,  throughout  which  oppressors  may  be  re 
buked  and  their  horrible  projects  brought  to  naught. 
Let  me  quote  a  few  extracts  from  a  newspaper  arti 
cle.  It  was  written  by  a  citizen  of  Dorchester  and 
appeared  shortly  after  the  meeting.  The  writer  has 
been  speaking  of  existing  facilities  for  water  trans 
portation,  which  he  thinks  should  content  certain  in 
habitants  of  the  town  of  Quincy  who  are  petitioning 
for  a  railroad. 

"  What  better  or  more  durable  communication  can 
be  had  than  the  Neponset  Eiver  or  the  wide  Atlantic  ? 
By  using  these,  no  thriving  village  will  be  destroyed, 
no  enterprising  mechanics  ruined,  no  beautiful  gar 
dens  and  farms  made  desolate,  and  no  public  or  pri 
vate  interests  most  seriously  affected.  Look  at  the 
rapid  growth  of  Neponset  village,  through  which  this 
contemplated  road  is  to  run  (the  citizens  of  which 
are  as  enterprising  and  active  as  can  be  found,  many 
of  whom  have  invested  their  all  either  in  trade,  me 
chanics,  manufactures,  .or  real  estate),  and  all  —  all  are 
to  be  sacrificed  under  a  car  ten  thousand  times  worse 
for  the  public  than  the  car  of  Juggernaut !  Look  at 
the  interests,  for  instance,  of  the  public  house  in  this 
place,  kept  by  a  most  estimable  citizen,  who  has 
ever  —  " 

But  I  have  no  heart  to  copy  further.  In  the  wreck 
of  an  entire  community  we  can  spare  no  tears  for  the 
woes  of  a  single  tavern-keeper.  The  ruins  of  that 


350  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

once  prosperous  village  of  Neponse^  are,  even  to  this 
day,  visited  by  reflective  tourists.  I  think  I  men 
tioned  that  the  Old  Colony  Company  has  a  way  of 
stopping  some  fifty  trains  there,  in  order  to  accom 
modate  moralists,  who  take  a  melancholy  satisfaction 
in  musing  among  them. 

Yes,  of  all  the  difficulties  that  were  met  in  estab 
lishing  locomotion  by  steam,  the  obstruction  offered 
by  blind,  stolid,  unreasoning  conservatism  was  not 
the  least.  It  required  not  only  men  of  foresight,  but 
those  of  strong  enthusiasm,  like  my  old  friend,  Mr. 
P.  P.  F.  Degrand,  to  tunnel  through  these  craggy 
prejudices.  There  is  a  certain  vital  energy  which 
thrills  in  French  nerves  in  greater  plenitude  than  in 
those  of  other  nationalities,  and  this  Boston  broker 
had  enough  of  it  to  run  a  Napoleon.  I  used  to  enrich 
an  old  lecture,  entitled  "  Our  Obligations  to  France," 
with  a  sketch  of  Degrand,  —  a  man  not  famous  as 
the  world  goes,  but  one  to  whom  the  public  is  far 
more  indebted  than  to  many  of  the  politicians  who 
get  their  column  in  the  biographical  dictionaries. 

To  the  older  railroad  men  of  Massachusetts  her 
iron  thoroughfares  are  consecrated  ground,  —  conse 
crated  by  the  labor,  the  anxieties,  the  sacrifices  which 
they  cost.  They  are  monuments  to  the  public  spirit 
of  the  dead,  not  vulgar  instruments  for  extorting  a 
maximum  of  money  for  a  minimum  of  service.  There 
is  probably  no  short  and  precise  solution  to  the  diffi 
cult  problem  which  the  private  control  of  these  arte 
ries  of  the  body  politic  presents  to  thoughtful  men. 
The  railroads  have  come  to  hold  a  power  which  should 


SOME  RAILROAD   INCIDENTS.  351 

only  be  committed  to  the  State,  unless,  indeed,  some 
way  can  be  devised  of  holding  their  managers  to 
strict  accountability.  I  have  said  elsewhere  what  I 
have  had  to  say  upon  this  subject,  and  will  avoid  the 
temptation  of  mingling  prophecies  and  suggestions 
with  the  uncontroversial  matter  which  belongs  to 
reminiscences. 


JACKSON  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 


I 


T  WAS  fairly  startled,  a  few  days  ago,  at  the  re- 
•*•  mark  of  a  young  friend  who  is  something  of  a 
student  of  American  history.  "  Of  course,"  said  he, 
"  General  Jackson  was  not  what  you  would  call  a 
gentleman ! "  Now,  although  I  had  only  a  holiday 
acquaintance  with  the  General,  and  although  a  man 
certainly  puts  on  his  best  manners  when  undergoing 
a  public  reception,  the  fact  was  borne  in  upon  me  that 
the  seventh  President  was,  in  essence,  a  knightly  per 
sonage, —  prejudiced,  narrow,  mistaken  upon  many 
points,  it  might  be,  but  vigorously  a  gentleman  in  his 
high  sense  of  honor  and  in  the  natural  straightfor 
ward  courtesies  which  are  easily  to  be  distinguished 
from  the  veneer  of  policy ;  and  I  was  not  prepared 
to  be  favorably  impressed  with  a  man  who  was  sim 
ply  intolerable  to  the  Brahmin  caste  of  my  native 
State.  Had  not  the  Jackson  organs  teemed  with 
abuse  of  my  venerated  friend,  John  Adams  ?  Had 
not  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  actually 
changed  the  name  of  a  town  from  Adams  to  Jack 
son  ;  thereby  performing  a  contemptible  act  of  flat 
tery,  which,  to  the  excited  imaginations  of  the  period, 


JACKSON   IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  353 

seemed  sufficient  to  discredit  republican  government 
forever  after  ?  Had  not  this  man  driven  from  their 
places  the  most  faithful  officers  of  government,  to 
satisfy  a  spirit  of  persecution  relentless  and  bitter  be 
yond  precedent  ? 

I  did  not  forget  these  things  when  I  received  Gov 
ernor  Lincoln's  order  to  act  as  special  aide-de-camp 
to  the  President  during  his  visit  to  Massachusetts ; 
and  I  felt  somewhat  out  of  place  when  I  found  my 
self  advancing  from  one  side  of  Pawtucket  Bridge 
(on  the  morning  of  June  20,  1833)  to  meet  a  slen 
der,  military-looking  person,  who  had  just  left  the 
Ehode  Island  side  of  that  structure.  Lawyers  are 
credited  with  the  capacity  of  being  equally  fluent 
upon  all  sides  of  a  question ;  and  if  I  had  suddenly 
received  orders  to  express  to  General  Jackson  my 
detestation  of  his  presidential  policy,  I  think  I  should 
have  been  equal  to  the  occasion.  My  business,  how 
ever,  was  to  deliver  an  address  of  welcome,  and  here 
was  Jackson  himself,  advancing  in  solitary  state  to 
hear  it.  Well  in  the  rear  of  the  chief  walked  the 
Vice-President  and  heir-apparent,  Martin  Van  Buren ; 
and  slowly  following  came  the  Secretaries  of  War  and 
the  Navy,  Cass  and  Woodbury.  It  is  awkward  to 
make  a  formal  speech  to  one  man,  and  I  missed  the 
crowd  which  the  military  upon  both  sides  of  the 
bridge  were  keeping  upon  terra  firma.  I  seemed  to 
be  the  mouthpiece  of  nobody  but  myself.  The  ad 
dress  somehow  got  itself  delivered,  the  distinguished 
guest  made  his  suitable  reply,  and  then  we  walked 
together  to  the  fine  barouche  and  four  which  was  to 


354  FIGURES  OF  THE   PAST. 

take  us  through  the  State.  The  President  and  Vice- 
President  were  waved  to  the  back  of  the  carriage, 
Colonel  Washburn  and  myself  occupied  the  front 
seat,  the  Cabinet  were  accommodated  with  chariots 
somewhat  less  triumphal  behind  us,  the  artillery  fired 
(breaking  many  windows  in  Pawtucket,  for  which 
the  State  paid  a  goodly  bill),  and  we  were  off. 

Our  first  stop  was  for  breakfast,  at  Attleborough, 
after  which  meal  we  visited  the  manufactories  of  jew 
elry  for  which  the  town  is  famous.  "  You  have  been 
interfering  with  our  business,  Mr.  President,"  said  the 
manager  of  one  of  these  establishments,  "  and  should 
feel  bound  in  honor  to  take  these  buttons  off  our 
hands."  So  saying,  he  produced  numerous  cards  of 
buttons  stamped  with  the  palmetto  tree.  These,  he 
said,  had  been  ordered  by  the  Southern  nullifiers  as 
distinguishing  badges ;  but  they  had  been  rendered 
quite  worthless  by  the  President's  proclamation. 
Jackson  made  some  reply,  that  I  did  not  catch,  and 
seemed  greatly  amused  at  the  discovery  that  treason 
in  South  Carolina  had  its  commercial  value  in  Massa 
chusetts.  And  here  let  me  say  that  it  was  that 
famous  proclamation  at  the  close  of  1832  which  gave 
its  author  the  hearty  reception  he  received  among  us. 
Indeed,  the  reception  might  have  been  called  enthu 
siastic  by  one  who  had  not  witnessed  the  great  wave 
of  popular  emotion  which  bore  Lafayette  through 
Massachusetts,  eight  years  before.  Such  an  uprising 
as  that  is  not  likely  to  be  seen  again  in  the  world's 
history ;  but  Jackson  had  come  to  us  at  a  period  when 
his  bitterest  opponents,  if  not  quite  ready  to  forget 


JACKSON  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  355 

their  grievances  in  view  of  the  sturdy  stand  he  had 
taken  in  behalf  of  the  Union,  were  prepared  to  re 
main  in  the  background  and  make  no  protest  to  mar 
the  popular  cordiality. 

As  we  rode  through  divers  small  towns,  receiving 
salutes  and  cheers  at  their  centres,  the  President 
talked  constantly  and  expressed  himself  with  great 
freedom  about  persons.  His  conversation  was  inter 
esting  from  its  sincerity,  decision,  and  point.  It  was 
easy  to  see  that  he  was  not  a  man  to  accept  a  dif 
ference  of  opinion  with  equanimity;  but  that  was 
clearly  because,  he  being  honest  and  earnest,  Heaven 
would  not  suffer  his  opinions  to  be  other  than  right. 
Mr.  Van  Buren,  on  the  other  hand,  might  have  posed 
for  a  statue  of  Diplomacy.  He  had  the  softest  way 
of  uttering  his  cautious  observations,  and  evidently 
considered  the  impression  every  word  would  make. 

At  Roxbury,  which  we  reached  about  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  we  found  a  triumphal  arch,  and 
Mr.  Jonathan  Dorr  to  speak  for  the  assembled  citi 
zens.  The  orator  was,  mercifully,  very  brief ;  indeed, 
his  speech  consisted  of  little  more  than  an  original 
couplet,  which,  if  not  quite  so  melodious  as  some  of 
Pope's,  had  doubtless  the  sincerity  which  the  Twick 
enham  poet  often  failed  to  put  into  his  compositions. 

"  And  may  his  powerful  arm  long  remain  nerved 
Who  said  :   The  Union,  it  must  be  preserved  I " 

"  Sir,"  exclaimed  Jackson,  in  reply,  "  it  shall  be  pre 
served  as  long  as  there  is  a  nerve  in  this  arm  ! "  Both 
of  which  speeches  are  concentrated  enough  to  keep. 
Those  who  want  rhetoric  can  add  it  for  themselves, 


356  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

as  we  do  water  to  the  Brunswick  soups.  I  was  de 
termined  that  General  Jackson  should  enter  Boston 
in  the  saddle,  as  I  knew  he  greatly  preferred  this 
mode  of  locomotion.  Horses  had  been  ordered  to 
be  in  readiness  at  the  Norfolk  House,  and  the  Presi 
dent  rejoiced  in  spirit  as  he  threw  his  leg  over  the 
fine  animal  which  had  been  provided  for  him.  My 
neighbor,  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Claflin  (the  veteran  conduc 
tor  of  the  Old  Colony  Railroad),  tells  me  that,  as  a 
boy  in  the  crowd,  he  saw  Jackson  mount  his  horse 
that  day.  He  remembers  how  the  General  fell  for 
ward  upon  the  neck  of  the  animal,  as  an  old  and 
tired  man  might  do ;  then  recovering  himself  he  shot 
upwards,  as  if  impelled  by  a  spring,  to  the  stiff  sol 
dierly  position  :  it  was  a  sight  not  to  be  forgotten. 
But,  alas !  the  dismounting  was  soon  to  follow ;  for 
at  the  city  line  we  came  upon  the  mayor,  seated  in  a 
barouche,  and  this  functionary  would  by  no  means 
consent  to  have  the  President  enter  his  dominions 
otherwise  than  at  his  side.  We  timidly  pleaded  that 
the  President  had  been  driven  through  a  long  day, 
and  found  himself  much  refreshed  by  a  change  of 
position.  It  was  of  no  use.  Civic  etiquette  was 
paramount,  and  the  poor  man  was  made  to  descend 
from  the  elevation  to  which  he  had  risen  with  such 
buoyancy.  The  staff,  however,  might  do  as  they 
pleased.  So  Colonel  Washburn  and  I  rode  on  either 
side  of  the  august  party  in  the  carriage,  to  our  great 
contentment. 

I  have  no  idea  of  providing  my  readers  with  free 
passes  to  the  banquets,  collations,  military  manceu- 


JACKSON   IN   MASSACHUSETTS.  357 

vres,  and  ceremonial  visits  which  followed  the  Presi 
dent's  arrival.  There  is,  however,  one  little  matter 
about  which  I  was  blamed  most  unjustly,  which  the 
muse  of  history  may  now  be  requested  to  put  right. 
On  the  afternoon  of  the  21st  there  was  a  review  of 
the  Boston  Brigade,  then  under  the  command  of 
General  Tyler  and  in  admirable  condition.  I  had 
engaged  trained  parade  horses  for  the  Cabinet  and 
suite,  as  I  supposed  they  would  all  follow  the  Presi 
dent  to  the  field ;  but  in  the  course  of  the  morning 
Mr.  Van  Buren  told  me  that  he  had  consulted  the 
other  gentlemen,  and  that  they  had  decided  unani 
mously  not  to  appear  at  the  review.  As  there  was 
a  great  demand  for  horses,  I  sent  word  to  the  livery 
stable  that  those  I  had  engaged  would  not  be  re 
quired,  and  they  were,  of  course,  instantly  taken  by 
officers  of  the  Brigade.  After  dinner,  however,  the 
Vice-President  sent  for  me,  and  said  that  he  and  his 
friends  had  reversed  their  decision,  and  now  wanted 
horses  to  go  to  the  review.  I  frankly  told  him  that 
I  had  given  up  the  animals  that  had  been  engaged, 
and  that  the  party  must  now  take  such  leavings  as 
might  be  had.  Eemembering  that,  from  a  militia 
standpoint,  the  trappings  are  about  seven  eighths  of 
the  horse,  I  at  once  ordered  the  finest  military  sad 
dles,  with  the  best  quadrupeds  under  them  that  were 
procurable.  They  appeared  in  due  time,  and  we 
mounted  and  proceeded  to  the  field  in  good  order; 
but  the  moment  we  reached  the  Common  the  tremen 
dous  discharge  of  artillery  which  saluted  the  Presi 
dent  scattered  the  Cabinet  in  all  directions.  Van 


358  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

Buren  was  a  good  horseman  and  kept  his  seat ;  but, 
having  neither  whip  nor  spur,  found  himself  com 
pletely  in  the  power  of  his  terrified  animal,  who, 
commencing  a  series  of  retrograde  movements  of  a 
most  unmilitary  character,  finally  brought  up  with 
his  tail  against  the  fence  which  then  separated  the 
Mall  from  the  Common,  and  refused  to  budge  another 
inch.  In  the  mean  time  the  President  and  his  staff 
had  galloped  cheerfully  round  the  troops  and  taken 
up  their  position  on  the  rising  ground  near  the  foot 
of  Joy  Street,  to  receive  the  marching  salute.  "  Why, 
where  's  the  Vice-President  ? "  suddenly  exclaimed 
Jackson,  turning  to  me  for  an  explanation.  "  About 
as  nearly  on  the  fence  as  a  gentleman  of  his  positive 
political  convictions  is  likely  to  get,"  said  I,  pointing 
him  out.  I  felt  well  enough  acquainted  with  Jack 
son  by  this  time  to  venture  upon  a  little  pleasantry. 
"That's  very  true,"  said  the  old  soldier,  laughing 
heartily ;  "  and  you  've  matched  him  with  a  horse 
who  is  even  more  non-committal  than  his  rider.'' 
Now,  the  Democrats  were  very  sensitive  about  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  and  among  them  started  a  report  that  I 
had  provided  their  prince  imperial  with  this  pre 
posterous  horse  in  order  to  put  him  in  a  ridiculous 
position.  I  was  much  annoyed  by  tills  story,  and, 
although  it  may  be  thought  a  little  late  to  give  it  a 
formal  contradiction  through  the  press,  I  feel  con 
strained  to  do  so.  It  was  the  Vice- President's  own 
fault,  and  no  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  managing 
aide-de-camp,  that  placed  him  in  a  position  to  which 
his  party  so  reasonably  objected. 


JACKSON   IN   MASSACHUSETTS.  359 

On  Monday  the  President  was  confined  to  his 
room  and,  indeed,  to  his  bed  by  indisposition.  He 
asked  me  to  read  the  newspapers  to  him,  and  took 
great  delight  in  the  narratives  of  Jack  Downing  (the 
Mark  Twain  of  the  period),  who  purported  to  accom 
pany  the  presidential  party  and  to  chronicle  its  doings. 
"  The  Vice-President  must  have  written  that,"  said 
Jackson,  after  some  specially  happy  hit.  "Depend 
upon  it,  Jack  Downing  is  only  Van  Buren  in  mas 
querade."  If  it  were  permitted  to  doubt  the  infalli 
bility  of  the  medical  faculty,  I  should  have  questioned 
whether  phlebotomy  was  the  best  prescription  in  the 
world  for  the  thin  elderly  gentleman  upon  the  bed ; 
but  when  my  valued  family  physician,  Dr.  Warren, 
twice  guided  the  lancet,  a  layman's  dissent  would 
have  been  preposterous.  I  remember,  upon  another 
occasion,  standing  over  the  bedside  of  a  friend  pros 
trated  by  a  not  uncommon  disorder  and  instinctively 
protesting  when  three  of  the  most  eminent  physicians 
of  Boston  declared  that  there  was  no  safety  but  in  a 
thorough  blood-letting.  I  mentioned  the  disorder  in 
question  to  a  distinguished  doctor  of  the  present  day, 
and  asked  him  whether  bleeding  would  be  resorted 
to  in  its  treatment.  "  Never  ! "  was  the  prompt  reply. 
"Not  under  any  circumstances?"  "Under  no  cir 
cumstances  whatever ! "  was  the  answer.  .  Now,  no 
sensible  person  would  speak  otherwise  than  respect 
fully  of  the  faculties  of  theology,  law,  medicine,  or 
science ;  and  yet  it  does  not  require  the  teachings  of 
history,  but  only  the  observation  of  a  single  lifetime, 
to  suggest  that  the  instincts  of  intelligent  laymen, 


360  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

when  opposed  to  the  dicta  of  these  august  bodies, 
are  —  well,  I  will  say,  worth  considering. 

General  Jackson's  illness  kept  him  closely  confined 
for  two  days,  and  prevented  his  witnessing  the  en 
trance  of  the  frigate  "  Constitution "  to  the  new  dry 
dock  at  the  Charlestown  Navy  Yard.  I  attended 
Mr.  Van  Buren  to  this  spectacle,  and  saw  Commodore 
Isaac  Hull,  with  a  huge  silver  trumpet  in  his  hand, 
giving  commands  from  the  same  quarter-deck  upon 
which  he  had  stood  during  the  memorable  battle  with 
the  "  Guerriere."  I  well  remember  the  visit  which 
this  gallant  commander  paid  to  my  father,  at  Quincy, 
only  a  day  or  two  after  this  famous  'sea-fight.  I  was 
a  boy  then,  and  had  among  my  possessions  the  hull 
of  a  toy  vessel.  This  my  mother  asked  me  to  show 
her  guest,  who  would  tell  me  if  it  was  a  good  model. 
I  produced  it  with  some  reluctance,  saying  that  it 
was  not  much  of  a  ship,  for  it  had  no  masts.  "  Well 
it  has  as  many  masts  as  the  'Guerriere'!"  was  the 
reply  which  the  bluff  sailor  stamped  for  life  upon  my 
memory. 

The  morning  of  Wednesday,  the  25th,  was  chilly 
and  overcast,  not  at  all  the  sort  of  day  for  an  invalid 
to  encounter  the  fatigues  of  travel  and  reception.  At 
ten  o'clock,  nevertheless,  the  President  appeared,  and 
took  his  seat  in  the  barouche,  and  was  greeted  with 
the  acclamations  which  will  always  be  forthcoming 
when  democratic  sovereignty  is  seen  embodied  in 
flesh  and  blood.  Very  little  flesh  in  this  case,  how 
ever,  and  only  such  trifle  of  blood  as  the  doctors  had 
thought  not  worth  appropriating.  But  the  spirit  in 


JACKSON   IN   MASSACHUSETTS.  361 

Jackson  was  resolute  to  conquer  physical  infirmity. 
His  eye  seemed  brighter  than  ever,  and  all  aglow  with 
the  mighty  will  which  can  compel  the  "body  to  exe 
cute  its  behests.  He  was  full  of  conversation,  as  we 
drove  to  Cambridge,  to  get  that  doctorate  whose  be 
stowal  occasioned  many  qualms  to  the  high-toned 
friends  of  Harvard.  College  degrees  were  then  sup 
posed  to  have  a  meaning  which  has  long  ago  gone 
out  of  them  ;  and  to  many  excellent  persons  it  seemed 
a  degrading  mummery  to  dub  a  man  Doctor  of  Laws 
who  was  credited  witli  caring  for  no  laws  whatever 
which  conflicted  with  his  personal  will.  John  Quincy 
Adams,  I  remember,  was  especially  disturbed  at  this 
academic  recognition  of  Jackson,  and  actually  asked 
my  father,  who  was  then  president  of  the  College, 
whether  there  was  no  way  of  avoiding  it.  "Why, 
no,"  was  the  reply.  "As  the  people  have  twice  de 
cided  that  this  man  knows  law  enough  to  be  their 
ruler,  it  is  not  for  Harvard  College  to  maintain  that 
they  are  mistaken."  But  Mr.  Adams  was  not  satis 
fied,  and  the  bitter  generalization  of  his  diary  that 
"time-serving  and  sycophancy  are  the  qualities  of  all 
learned  and  scientific  institutions  "  was  certainly  not 
to  be  modified  by  his  successor's  visit  to  Cambridge. 
It  did  not  require  Jack  Downing's  fun  to  show  the 
delicious  absurdity  of  giving  Jackson  a  literary  de 
gree;  but  the  principle  that  wandering  magistrates, 
whether  of  state  or  nation,  might  claim  this  distinc 
tion  had  been  firmly  established,  and  there  were  dif 
ficulties  in  limiting  its  application. 


362  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 


II 


THERE  is  a  familiar  expression  by  which  news 
paper  reporters  denote  the  strong  current  of  feeling 
which  sometimes  runs  through  an  assembly,  and  yet 
reaches  no  audible  sound  of  applause  or  censure.  It 
has  been  decided  that  the  word  [sensation],  put  in 
brackets  as  it  is  here  printed,  shall  convey  those 
tremors  of  apprehension  or  criticism  which  cannot 
be  exhibited  with  definiteness.  Nobody  who  knows 
anything  about  Harvard  College  can  doubt  that  there 
will  be  sensation  whenever  the  people  decide  that 
Governor  B.  F.  Butler  shall  appear  upon  the  stage  of 
Sanders  Theatre  to  receive  the  compliment  of  the 
highest  degree  which  can  there  be  offered ;  but  I  will 
venture  to  say  that  an  emotion  much  stronger  than 
this  was  felt  by  the  throng  which  filled  the  Col 
lege  Chapel  when  Andrew  Jackson,  leaning  upon  the 
arm  of  my  father,  entered  the  building  from  which 
he  was  to  depart  a  Doctor  of  Laws.  Fifty  years  have 
taught  sensible  men  to  estimate  college  training  at  its 
true  worth.  It  is  now  clear  that  it  does  not  furnish 
the  exclusive  entrance  to  paths  of  the  highest  honor. 
The  career  of  Abraham  Lincoln  has  made  impossible 
a  certain  academic  priggishness  which  belonged  to 
an  earlier  period  of  our  national  existence.  Jackson's 
ignorance  of  books  was  perhaps  exaggerated,  and 
his  more  useful  knowledge  of  things  and  human  re 
lations  was  not  apparent  to  his  political  opponents, 
to  whom  the  man  was  but  a  dangerous  bundle  of 


JACKSON  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  363 

chimeras  and  prejudices ;  but  I  do  not  need  the 
testimony  of  a  diary  now  before  me  to  confirm  the 
statement  that  his  appearance  before  that  Cambridge 
audience  instantly  produced  a  toleration  which  quickly 
merged  into  something  like  admiration  and  respect. 
The  name  of  Andrew  Jackson  was,  indeed,  one  to 
frighten  naughty  children  with ;  but  the  person  who 
went  by  it  wrought  a  mysterious  charm  upon  old  and 
young.  Beacon  Street  had  been  undemonstrative  as 
we  passed  down  that  Brahmin  thoroughfare,  on  our 
way  to  Cambridge ;  but  a  few  days  later  I  heard  an 
incident  characteristic  enough  to  be  worth  telling. 
Mr.  Daniel  P.  Parker,  a  well-known  Boston  mer 
chant,  had  come  to  his  window  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  guest  of  the  State,  regarding  him  very  much  as  he 
might  have  done  some  dangerous  monster  which  was 
being  led  captive  past  his  house.  But  the  sight  of 
the  dignified  figure  of  Jackson  challenged  a  respect 
which  the  good  merchant  felt  he  must  pay  by  proxy,  if 
not  in  person.  "  Do  some  one  come  here  and  salute 
the  old  man  ! "  he  suddenly  exclaimed.  And  a  little 
daughter  of  Mr.  Parker  was  thrust  forward  to  wave 
her  handkerchief  to  the  terrible  personage  whose  do 
ings  had  been  so  offensive  to  her  elders. 

The  exercises  in  the  Chapel  were  for  the  most  part 
in  Latin.  My  father  addressed  the  President  in  that 
language,  repeating  a  composition  upon  which  he 
somewhat  prided  himself,  for  Dr.  Beck,  after  making 
two  verbal  corrections  in  his  manuscript,  had  declared 
it  to  be  as  good  Latin  as  a  man  need  write.  Then 
we  had  some  more  Latin  from  young  Mr.  Francis 


364  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

Bowen,  of  the  senior  class,  a  gentleman  whose  name 
has  since  been  associated  with  so  much  fine  and 
weighty  English.  There  were  also  a  few  modest 
words,  presumably  in  the  vernacular,  though  scarcely 
audible,  from  the  recipient  of  the  doctorate. 

But  it  has  already  been  intimated  that  there  were 
two  Jacksons  who  were  at  that  time  making  the  tour 
of  New  England.  One  was  the  person  whom  I  have 
endeavored  to  describe ;  the  other  may  be  called  the 
Jackson  of  comic  myth,  whose  adventures  were  mi 
nutely  set  forth  by  Mr.  Jack  Downing  and  his  brother 
humorists.  The  Harvard  degree,  as  bestowed  upon 
this  latter  personage,  offered  a  situation  which  the 
chroniclers  of  the  grotesque  could  in  no  wise  resist. 
A  hint  of  Downing  was  seized  upon  and  expanded 
as  it  flew  from  mouth  to  mouth,  until,  at  last,  it  has 
actually  been  met  skulking  near  the  back  door  of 
history  in  a  form  something  like  this.  General  Jack- 
sou,  npon  being  harangued  in  Latin,  found  himself 
in  a  position  of  immense  perplexity.  It  was  simply 
decent  for  him  to  reply  in  the  learned  language  in 
which  he  was  addressed  ;  but,  alas  !  the  Shakespearian 
modicum  of  "  small  Latin  "  was  all  that  Old  Hickory 
possessed,  and  what  he  must  do  was  clearly  to  rise 
to  the  situation  and  make  the  most  of  it.  There  were 
those  college  fellows,  chuckling  over  his  supposed 
humiliation ;  but  they  were  to  meet  a  man  who  was 
not  to  be  caught  in  the  classical  trap  they  had  set  for 
him.  Eising  to  his  feet  just  at  the  proper  moment, 
the  new  Doctor  of  Laws  astonished  the  assembly 
with  a  Latin  address,  in  which  Dr.  Beck  himself  was 


JACKSON   IN   MASSACHUSETTS.  365 

unable  to  discover  a  single  error.  A  brief  quotation 
from  this  eloquent  production  will  be  sufficient  to 
exhibit  its  character :  "  Caveat  emptor :  corpus  delicti : 
ex  post  facto :  dies  irse :  e  pluribus  uuum  :  usque  ad 
nauseam :  Ursa  Major :  sic  semper  tyrannis  :  quid 
pro  quo :  requiescat  in  pace."  Now  this  foolery  was 
immensely  taking  in  the  day  of  it;  and  mimics  were 
accustomed  to  throw  social  assemblies  into  paroxysms 
of  delight  by  imitating  Jackson  in  the  delivery  of  his 
Latin  speech.  The  story  was,  on  the  whole,  so  good, 
as  showing  how  the  man  of  the  people  could  triumph 
over  the  crafts  and  subtleties  of  classical  pundits, 
that  all  Philistia  wanted  to  believe  it.  And  so  it 
came  to  pass  that,  as  time  went  on,  part  of  Philistia 
did  believe  it,  for  I  have  heard  it  mentioned  as  an 
actual  occurrence  by  persons  who  may  not  shrink 
from  a  competitive  examination  in  history  whenever 
government  offices  are  to  be  entered  through  that 
portal.  Human  annals  get  muddied  by  the  wits,  as 
well  as  by  the  sentimentalists.  Some  taking  rhap 
sody,  be  it  of  humor  or  fancy,  is  flung  in  the  direc 
tion  of  an  innocent  mortal,  and  the  best  historian 
cannot  wash  him  quite  clean  of  it.  Vainly,  I  fear, 
does  Mr.  Samuel  Eoads,  Jr.,  prove  to  the  readers  of 
his  book  that  the  "horrd  horrt"  of  Skipper  Ireson 
may  have  been  quite  as  tender  as  Mr.  Whittier's,  and 
that  "  the  women  of  Marblehead "  were  presumably 
in  bed  when  that  unlucky  mariner  took  his  dismal 
ride  through  their  town.  Ah!  Mr.  Phillips,  let  us 
not  altogether  despise  the  poor  "fribbles"  who  keep 
journals.  They  do  manage  to  keep  a  few  myths  out 


366  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

of  history,  after  all.  For  ID  spite  of  the  matchless 
oration  we  listened  to  the  other  da}7,1  I  venture  to 
advise  my  younger  readers  to  make  some  record  of 
what  they  see  and  learn.  It  improves  the  observing 
powers,  strengthens  the  memory,  and  impresses  life's 
lessons  upon  the  mind.  "  You  can  count  on  the  fin 
gers  of  your  two  hands  all  the  robust  minds  that 
have  kept  journals,"  says  my  eminent  friend.  Well, 
perhaps  you  can ;  but  I  think  it  might  require  all  the 
hands  of  Briareus  to  number  the  robust  minds  that 
have  lamented  that  they  took  no  written  note  of  the 
scenes  and  persons  among  which  they  passed.  Most 
pathetic  in  its  regret  was  the  language  I  have  heard 
from  Judge  Story  and  other  first-class  men  respecting 
this  omission.  It  has  rung  in  my  ears  when,  tired 
and  full  of  business,  I  was  disposed  to  shirk  the  task. 
So  let  us"  possess  our  souls  in  patience  even  if  our 
"sixpenny  neighbor"  is  keeping  a  journal.  "Re 
spectable  mediocrity"  though  he  be,  he  may  prove 
a  check  upon  some  future  orator  as  charming  as 
Mr.  Phillips,  —  but,  alas,  far  less  scrupulous,  —  whose 
instinct  for  rhetorical  effect  might  tempt  him  to 
turn  some  wholesome  human  biography  into  a  pane 
gyric  or  a  satire.  Surely  any  competent  historian 
may  discern  whether  a  given  diary  reflects  the  un 
changeable  heavens,  or  only  the  fogs  which  shut  in 
the  writer  of  it.  Whoever  mistook  Boswell's  judg 
ments  for  the  judgments  of  anybody  but  Boswell ;  yet 
who  would  give  up  the  scenes  and  characters  which 

1  See  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration  by  Wendell  Phillips,  June  30, 
1881. 


JACKSON   IN   MASSACHUSETTS.  367 

that  note-book  of  his  so  exquisitely  photographs  ? 
It  is  Arthur  Helps  who  says  that  poor  "  sixpenny  " 
Pepys  has  given  us  "the  truest  book  that  ever  was 
written  ; "  —  no  slight  praise  this,  as  it  seems  to  me. 
But  let  not  the  reader  fear  that  any  chronicles  of 
mine  shall  be  catalogued  among  the  diaries  and  jour 
nals  from  which  Mr.  Phillips  would  deliver  us.  I 
have  taken  stringent  measures  to  secure  him  and 
his  posterity  from  so  great  a  calamity. 

To  return  to  the  real  Jackson,  who  held  what 
Dickens  says  Americans  call  a  le-vee,  after  the  ex 
ercises  in  the  chapel.  He  stood  at  one  end  of  the 
low  parlor  of  the  President's  house,  and  bowed  to 
the  students  as  they  passed  him.  "I  am  most 
happy  to  see  you,  gentlemen,"  he  said ;  "  I  wish  you 
all  much  happiness ; "  "  Gentlemen,  I  heartily  wish 
you  success  in  life ; "  and  so  on,  constantly  varying 
the  phrase,  which  was  always  full  of  feeling.  The 
President  had  begun  his  reception  by  offering  his 
hand  to  all  who  approached  ;  but  he  found  that  this 
would  soon  drain  the  small  strength  which  must 
carry  him  through  the  day.  He  afterward  made  an 
exception  in  favor  of  two  pretty  children,  daughters 
of  Dr.  Palfrey.  He  took  the  hands  of  these  little 
maidens,  and  then  lifted  them  up  and  kissed  them. 
It  was  a  pleasant  sight,  —  one  not  to  be  omitted  when 
the  events  of  the  day  were  put  upon  paper.  This 
rough  soldier,  exposed  all  his  life  to  those  tempta 
tions  which  have  conquered  public  men  whom  we 
still  call  good,  could  kiss  little  children  with  lips 
as  pure  as  their  own. 


368  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

From  Cambridge  we  drove  to  Charlestown,  where 
we  had  an  address  from  Mr.  Everett,  a  climb  to  the 
top  of  the  unfinished  monument,  two  weary  hours 
of  processioning  about  the  town,  and  the  -inevitable 
collation.  These  unexpected  performances  greatly 
fatigued  the  feeble  President,  and  spoiled  the  pro 
gramme  I  had  arranged  for  the  day.  He  would  go 
through  it  all,  despite  the  remonstrances  of  his  party. 
"  These  people  have  made  their  arrangements  to  wel 
come  me,"  he  said,  "  and  so  long  as  I  am  riot  on  my 
back  I  will  gratify  them."  We  were,  accordingly, 
some  hours  behind  time  when  we  reached  Lynn,  and 
here  it  was  evident  to  us  'all  that  Jackson  must  lie 
upon  his  back  during  our  stay  in  the  town.  To  bed 
he  was  accordingly  put  for  an  hour  or  two,  while  his 
Cabinet  and  suite  did  such  justice  as  they  could  to 
the  noble  feast  which  had  been  provided  in  his  honor. 
But,  alas  !  we  had  already  had  three  periods  of  feed 
ing  that  very  day,  and  two  more  were  in  prospect 
before  its  close.  Oh  for  that  happy  device  of  the 
leathern  bag,  with  which  Jack  the  Giant-Killer  was 
accustomed  to  increase  his  capacity  before  accepting 
the  hospitalities  of  his  Cyclopean  enemies,  and  which 
prevented  the  killing  to  be  done  from  going  the  wrong 
way.  Fifty  years  ago  such  an  expedient  would  have 
been  a  mercy  to  greatness  upon  its  travels,  as  well  as 
to  the  insignificancies  following  in  its  wake.  Let  me 
note  one  step  away  from  barbarism  which  has  cer 
tainly  been  taken  since  my  youth.  It  now  seems 
possible  to  decline  meats  and  drinks,  when  one  has 
no  occasion  for  them,  without  injuring  the  feelings 


JACKSON    IN   MASSACHUSETTS.  369 

or  reflecting  upon  the  cookery  of  those  who  offer 
them. 

We  allowed  the  President  all  the  repose  he  thought 
necessary,  and  then  pressed  on  to  Marblehead,  a  town 
overwhelmingly  Democratic  and  so  holding  itself  to 
have  undoubted  claims  upon  General  Jackson.  Prep 
arations  for  a  grand  banquet  had  of  course  been 
made,  and  great  was  the  indignation  when,  after  a 
brief  pause,  I  gave  the  order  to  proceed  on  our  way 
and  leave  the  viands  untasted.  The  fact  was  that  the 
President's  indisposition  had  so  increased  that  it  was 
impossible  for  us  to  remain,  and  it  was  in  accordance 
with  his  request  that  we  made  all  speed  for  Salem. 
Some  days  after  I  was  served  with  a  copy  of  a  local 
journal,  with  a  marked  paragraph,  in  which  a  certain 
conceited  fellow,  in  epaulets,  who  was  ordering  about 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  was  severely 
dealt  with,  and  was  strongly  advised  never  to  show 
his  face  again  in  Marblehead,  as  there  was  no  telling 
what  treatment  he  might  receive  at  the  hands  of  an 
outraged  people.  I  have,  however,  dared  to  lecture  in 
that  interesting  old  town,  and  somehow  managed  to 
escape  the  popular  fury  with  which  I  was  threatened. 

We  had  an  anxious  drive  to  Salem,  as  the  Presi 
dent  was  becoming  weaker  every  moment.  On  reach 
ing  the  town,  I  ordered  all  formalities  of  reception  to 
be  cut  from  the  programme  and  hurried  to  the  hotel 
by  the  shortest  route.  I  felt  relieved  of  a  burden  of 
responsibility  when  Jackson  was  safe  in  bed  and  un 
der  the  direction  of  proper  medical  attendants.  But 
a  procession  had  been  organized  and  had  been  long 

24 


FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 


waiting  our  appearance,  to  trail  its  colors  and  trap 
pings  about  the  streets  of  the  town.  We  did  not 
think  of  telegraphing  the  President's  condition  from 
Charlestown,  or  even  of  sending  a  messenger  by  the 
railroad  to  tell  the  Salem  people  to  postpone  their 
celebration.  Do  not  judge  us  harshly,  you  young 
people,  who  have  been  born  into  a  world  which  is  run 
by  steam,  electricity,  and  newspaper  extras.  If  Ham 
let  is  to  be  left  out  of  the  play,  the  little  omission 
is  well  advertised  beforehand,  and  those  who  take  no 
interest  in  the  rest  of  the  characters  have  the  option  of 
staying  at  home.  But  we  were  living  before  the  days 
when  everybody  knows  everything  which  is  going  on 
in  the  world,  and  for  us  there  was  nothing  to  be  done 
but  to  go  through  a  grand  Jackson  reception,  without 
any  Jackson.  After  some  delay  the  Presidential 
barouche,  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  myself  now  occupying 
the  back  seat  thereof,  was  got  into  its  place  in  the  or 
der  of  march.  It  was  now  verging  toward  dark,  and 
a  clamorous  welcome  was  accorded  to  that  barouche, 
as  it  followed  the  band  about  the  streets.  Indeed, 
the  immense  interest  we  excited  soon  forced  upon  me 
the  very  unpleasant  conviction  that  the  aide-de-camp 
of  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  was  passing  for 
the  President  of  the  United  States.  And  naturally 
enough,  too  ;  for  there  was  really  no  way  of  inform 
ing  the  crowd  that  Jackson  was  necessarily  absent 
from  his  ovation,  and  it  seemed  clear  to  them  that 
the  person  in  the  cocked  hat,  with  gold  lace  trim 
mings,  who  was  riding  by  the  side  of  the  Vice-Presi 
dent  could  be  no  other  than  their  favorite  general.  The 


JACKSON   IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  371 

situation  was  awkward  enough.  I  could  only  ride 
bolt  upright,  gazing  stolidly  at  vacancy,  and  urge 
Mr.  Van  Buren  to  accept  the  applause  as. his  personal 
dues  and  to  bow  graciously  right  and  left ;  but  this 
the  modest  gentleman  was  very  loath  to  do,  for  it  was 
obvious  that  the  bursts  of  enthusiasm  were  never  in 
tended  for  him.  We  were  both  glad  enough  to  get  out 
of  a  preposterous  scrape,  which  a  few  clicks  of  the 
modern  telegraph  would  have  enabled  us  to  avoid. 

No  person  who  had  seen  the  collapsed  condition 
in  which  the  President  was  deposited  at  the  hotel 
would  have  imagined  that  he  could  resume  his  trav 
els  the  next  day;  and  it  was,  undoubtedly,  by  an 
exertion  of  the  will  of  which  only  the  exceptional 
man  is  capable  that  he  was  able  to  do  so.  But  the 
art  of  mastering  the  physical  nature  was  familiar  to 
Jackson,  who  had  gone  through  the  fatigues  of  gen 
eralship  in  the  field  when  supported  only  by  a  few 
grains  of  rice.  An  immaterial  sofnething  flashed 
through  his  eye  as  he  greeted  us  in  the  breakfast- 
room,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  faltering  body  was 
again  held  in  subjection.  After  a  brief  visit  to  the 
East  India  Museum,  we  set  off  for  Andover.  The 
weather  was  perfect.  The  President  was  brighter 
than  I  had  yet  seen  him,  and  well  disposed  to  talk. 
"  And  now,  General,"  said  Mr.  Van  Buren,  when  we 
were  fairly  on  our  way,  "  tell  us  all  about  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  whereof,  like  Desdemona,  by  parcels 
I  have  something  heard,  but  not  intentively."  And 
the  hero  of  that  wonderful  fight,  occasionally  stimu 
lated  by  a  few  questions,  gave  us  the  story  as  he 


372  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

remembered  it.  It  was,  undoubtedly,  the  most  inter 
esting  narrative  I  ever  heard,  and  my  journal  pre 
serves  —  not  one  word  of  it.  Upon  one  point  only 
my  memory  is  distinct.  Jackson  certainly  asserted 
that  the  watchword  "  Booty  and  Beauty  "  had  been 
given  by  General  Packet/ham,  —  asserted  it  as  if  it 
were  a  fact  within  his  personal  knowledge ;  yet  we 
know  he  was  mistaken,  as  his  admirable  biographer, 
Mr.  Parton,  has  conclusively  shown. 

How  inexplicable  are  the  freaks  of  memory  !  It 
relaxes  its  hold  upon  things  we  would  gladly  recall, 
and  then  offers  us  some  wretched  trifle,  as  if  it  were 
a  golden  proverb  into  which  the  world's  wisdom  had 
been  distilled.  While  I  cannot  give  a  sentence 
from  Jackson's  thrilling  story  of  the  battle,  I  can 
quote  verbatim  a  scrap  of  after-dinner  talk  which  oc 
curred  after  we  had  partaken  of  the  Andover  colla 
tion  and  were  driving  toward  Lowell.  The  day  was 
growing  sultry  and  the  Vice-President  began  to  nod. 
"  Jackson  (slapping  his  neighbor  on  the  knee).  Why, 
sir,  are  you  going  to  sleep  ?  Van  Buren.  Well, 
yes.  On  a  warm  day,  after  dinner,  it  is  my  habit  to 
catch  a  nap.  Jackson.  That  argues  that  you  pos 
sess  a  more  peaceful  conscience  than  your  political 
adversaries  give  you  credit  for.  Van  Buren.  You  are 
right,  sir.  It  argues  not  only  a  quiet  conscience,  but 
an  unambitious  mind."  How  is  it  that  I  can  repeat 
that  poor  bit  of  chaff,  word  for  word,  giving  the 
reader  (if  a  telephone  only  connected  us)  the  very 
intonations  of  the  interlocutors,  while  I  can  furnish 
no  fragment  of  most  interesting  matter,  which  he 


JACKSON   IN   MASSACHUSETTS.  373 

would  be  as  glad  to  bear  as  I  should  to  recall  ? 
"  Accept  a  miracle  in  place  of  wit,"  says  the  most 
perfect  epigram  in  the  English  language.  In  place  of 
Jackson's  account  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  I  must 
ask  the  reader  to  accept  a  puzzle  in  mnemonics. 

General  Jackson,  the  unscrupulous,  did  have  a  few 
scruples  after  all.  "  Constitutional  scruples  "  was  the 
name  he  gave  them,  and  they  had  something  to  do 
with  a  protective  tariff.  Now  the  manufacturing 
town  of  Lowell,  or  rather  the  wealthy  men  who  con 
ducted  it,  had  one  ineradicable  prejudice,  and  held 
in  abhorrence  a  certain  detestable  heresy  known  as 
Free  Trade.  The  meeting  of  mighty  opposites  is  not 
always  so  dangerous  to  baser  natures  as  Hamlet  con 
sidered  it.  On  the  contrary,  the  aforesaid  opposites 
will  sometimes  try  to  capture  one  another  by  elegant 
blandishments,  which  are  not  without  delight  to  the 
baser  natures  who  are  looking  on.  Lowell  did  her 
very  best  to  captivate  the  President,  and  prepared 
such  a  show  in  his  honor  as  nobody  but  the  Queen 
of  the  Amazons  ever  saw  before.  Passing  beneath  tri 
umphal  arches  of  evergreen,  the  President  was  sum 
moned  to  review  an  army  of  nice,  intelligent  American 
young  women.  Some  said  there  were  three  thousand, 
some  declared  there  were  five  thousand,  of  these  fresh, 
good-looking  girls.  I  was  much  too  dazed  to  think 
of  counting  them.  All  or  most  of  them  were  em 
ployed  in  the  mills,  and  all  wore  snow-white  dresses, 
with  sashes  of  bright  color.  Happily,  too,  they  were 
bareheaded  ;  for  the  bonnet  of  the  'period  was  a  hid 
eous  monstrosity,  a  proper  companion  for  that  mascu- 


374  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

line  section-of-stove-pipe  hat,  which  even  to  this 
day  demonstrates  the  great  doctrine  of  the  survival 
of  the  unfittest.  The  fair  army  bore  parasols,  instead 
of  muskets,  and  most  of  these  were  green  parasols ; 
but  the  costumers  of  the  pageant  came  to  the  Presi 
dent  lamenting  that  all  the  parasols  were  not  green. 
They  had  done  their  best,  they  said.  Boston  had 
been  ransacked  in  vain,  and  New  York  was  in  those 
days  far  too  distant  to  be  drawn  upon.  But  when 
these  same  parasols  were  waved  in  graceful  salute, 
as  the  bearers  passed  before  their  Chief  Magistrate, 
Jackson's  enthusiasm  mounted  high,  and  he  was 
pleased  to  say  that  this  distressing  variation  in  color 
did  not  mar  his  satisfaction  with  the  scene.  And 
well  might  Old  Hickory  be  delighted  with  the  sight 
of  those  bright,  self-respecting  daughters  of  Ameri 
can  yeomanry,  who  wrought  so  cheerfully  with  the 
machinery  of  the  mills.  Alas  !  it  was  a  sight  not 
soon  to  be  repeated  among  men.  Not  until  wise 
forms  of  co-operation  shall  solve  the  labor  problem 
which  now  perplexes  the  world  can  any  successor  of 
Jackson  be  received  by  such  operatives  in  a  manu 
facturing  town. 

Lowell  certainly  treated  our  party  very  handsomely. 
One  of  the  mills  was  set  going  for  our  benefit,  and  we 
were  generously  dined  in  the  evening.  Jackson  was 
evidently  much  impressed  with  what  he  had  see-n, 
and,  indeed,  talked  of  little  else  till  we  reached  the 
State  line,  about  noon  the  next  day.  He  took  leave 
of  me  with  hearty  cordiality.  "  Come  and  see  me  at 
the  White  House ;  or,  better  still,  at  the  Hermitage, 


JACKSON   IN   MASSACHUSETTS.  375 

if  I  live  to  return  to  it."  I  left  him  feeling  that  he 
had  moderated  his  views,  and  would  be  a  wiser  Pres 
ident  than  he  had  been.  The  astounding  measure 
known  as  the  Eemoval  of  the  Deposits  soon  dissi 
pated  these  hopeful  fancies.  The  transferrence  of  the 
national  money  to  the  "  Pet  Banks  "  produced  tempo 
rary  inflation,  to  be  followed  by  years  of  utter  business 
stagnation.  Never  again  could  President  Jackson 
have  been  warmly  welcomed  to  Massachusetts. 

One  more  incident  shall  conclude  this  paper.  At 
the  New  Hampshire  line  I  met  a  young  gentleman, 
who  was  acting  as  aid  to  the  Governor  of  that  State, 
and  had  come  to  escort  the  President  through  his 
dominions.  There  was  time  for  quite  a  little  talk 
between  us,  and  he  was  curious  to  know  all  the  par 
ticulars  of  our  progress  through  the  Bay  State.  I 
told  him  what  I  could  remember,  not  forgetting  that 
very  awkward  ride  through  Salem,  when  I  was  mis 
taken  for  the  Head  of  the  Nation.  I  did  not  add : 
"  Now,  if  you  happen  to  pass  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  there  will  be  no  embarrassment  what 
ever.  It  will  anticipate  history  a  little ;  that  is  all !  " 
I  did  not  say  this,  for  who  does  say  the  right  thing 
just  at  the  right  moment  ?  I  wonder  what  Mr. 
Franklin  Pierce  would  have  thought  of  the  remark, 
had  it  occurred  to  me  to  make  it ! 


JOSEPH   SMITH   AT  NAUVOO. 


I. 


TT  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  some  future 
-*-  text-book,  for  the  use  of  generations  yet  unborn, 
will  contain  a  question  something  like  this :  What 
historical  American  of  the  nineteenth  century  has 
exerted  the  most  powerful  influence  upon  the  des 
tinies  of  his  countrymen  ?  And  it  is  by  no  means 
impossible  that  the  answer  to  that  interrogatory  may 
be  thus  written :  Joseph  Smith,  the  Mormon  prophet. 
And  the  reply,  absurd  as  it  doubtless  seems  to 
most  men  now  living,  may  be  an  obvious  common 
place  to  their  descendants.  History  deals  in  sur 
prises  and  paradoxes  quite  as  startling  as  this.  The 
man  who  established  a  religion  in  this  age  of  free 
debate,  who  was  and  is  to-day  accepted  by  hundreds 
of  thousands  as  a  direct  emissary  from  the  Most  High, 
—  such  a  rare  human  being  is  not  to  be  disposed  of 
by  pelting  his  memory  with  unsavory  epithets.  Fa 
natic,  impostor,  charlatan,  he  may  have  been ;  but 
these  hard  names  furnish  no  solution  to  the  problem 
he  presents  to  us.  Fanatics  and  impostors  are  living 
and  dying  every  day,  and  their  memory  is  buried 


JOSEPH   SMITH   AT   NAUVOO.  377 

with  them ;  but  the  wonderful  influence  which  this 
founder  of  a  religion  exerted  and  still  exerts  throws 
him  into  relief  before  us,  not  as  a  rogue  to  be  crimi 
nated,  but  as  a  phenomenon  to  be  explained.  The 
most  vital  questions  Americans  are  asking  each  other 
to-day  have  to  do  with  this  man  and  what  he  has 
left  us.  Is  there  any  remedy  heroic  enough  to  meet 
the  case,  yet  in  accordance  with  our  national  doc 
trines  of  liberty  and  toleration,  which  can  be  applied 
to  the  demoralizing  doctrines  now  advanced  by  the 
sect  which  he  created?  The  possibilities  of  the 
Mormon  system  are  unfathomable.  Polygamy  may 
be  followed  by  still  darker  "  revelations."  Here  is  a 
society  resting  upon  foundations  which  may  at  any 
moment  be  made  subversive  of  every  duty  which  we 
claim  from  the  citizen.  Must  it  be  reached  by  that 
last  argument  which  quenched  the  evil  fanaticisms  of 
Mulhausen  and  Minister  ?  A  generation  other  than 
mine  must  deal  with  these  questions.  Burning  ques 
tions  they  are,  which  must  give  a  prominent  place 
in  the  history  of  the  country  to  that  sturdy  self- 
asserter  whom  I  visited  at  Nauvoo.  Joseph  Smith, 
claiming  to  be  an  inspired  teacher,  faced  adversity 
such  as  few  men  have  been  called  to  meet,  enjoyed 
a  brief  season  of  prosperity  such  as  few  men  have 
ever,  attained,  and,  finally,  forty-three  days  after  I 
saw  him,  went  cheerfully  to  a  martyr's  death.  When 
he  surrendered  his  person  to  Governor  Ford,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  shedding  of  blood,  the  prophet  had  a 
presentiment  of  what  was  before  him.  "  I  am  going 
like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,"  he  is  reported  to  have 


378  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

said ;  "  but  I  am  as  calm  as  a  summer's  morning.  I 
have  a  conscience  void  of  offence  and  shall  die  inno 
cent.'*  I  have  no  theory  to  advance  respecting  this 
extraordinary  man.  I  shall  simply  give  the  facts  of 
my  intercourse  with  him.  At  some  future  time  they 
may  be  found  to  have  some  bearing  upon  the  theories 
of  others  who  are  more  competent  to  make  them. 
Ten  closely  written  pages  'of  my  journal  describe  my 
impressions  of  Nauvoo,  and  of  its  prophet,  mayor, 
general,  and  judge;  but  details,  necessarily  omitted 
in  the  diary,  went  into  letters  addressed  to  friends  at 
home,  and  I  shall  use  both  these  sources  to  make  my 
narrative  as  complete  as  possible.  I  happened  to 
visit  Joseph  Smith  in  company  with  a  distinguished 
gentleman,  who,  if  rumor  may  be  trusted,  has  been 
as  conscientious  a  journal-writer  as  was  his  father. 
It  is  not  impossible  that  my  record  may  one  day 
be  supplemented  by  that  of  my  fellow-traveller,  the 
Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams. 

It  was  on  the  25th  of  April,  1844,  that  Mr.  Adams 
and  myself  left  Boston  for  the  journey  to  the  West 
which  we  had  had  for  some  time  in  contemplation. 
I  omit  all  account  of  our  adventures  —  and  a  very 
full  account  of  them  is  before  me  —  until  the  14th 
of  May,  when  we  are  ascending  the  clear,  sparkling 
waters  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  in  the  little  steam 
boat  "  Amaranth."  With  one  exception  we  find  our 
fellow-passengers  uninteresting.  The  exception  is 
Dr.  Goforth.  A  chivalric,  yet  simple  personage  is 
this  same  doctor,  who  has  served  under  General 
Jackson  at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  and  is  now 


JOSEPH  SMITH  AT   NATJVOO.  379 

going  to  Nauvoo,  to  promote  the  election  of  the  just 
nominated  Henry  Clay.  It  is  to  this  gentleman  we 
owe  our  sight  of  the  City  of  the  Saints,  which, 
strangely  enough,  we  had  not  intended  to  visit. 
Though  far  from  being  a  Mormon  himself,  Dr.  Goforth 
told  us  much  that  was  good  and  interesting  about 
this  strange  people.  He  urged  us  to  see  for  ourselves 
the  result  of  the  singular  political  system  which  had 
been  fastened  upon  Christianity,  and  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  his  friend,  General  Smith,  the  reli 
gious  and  civil  autocrat  of  the  community.  "We 
agreed  to  stop  at  Nauvoo,"  says  my  journal,  "pro 
vided  some  conveyance  should  be  found  at  the  land 
ing  which  would  take  us  up  to  General  Smith's  tavern, 
and  prepared  our  baggage  for  this  contingency.  Owing 
to  various  delays,  we  did  not  reach  the  landing  till 
nearly  midnight,  when  our  friend,  who  had  jumped 
on  shore  the  moment  the  boat  stopped,  returned  with 
the  intelligence  that  no  carriage  was  to  be  had,  and 
so  we  bade  him  adieu,  to  go  on  our  way.  But,  as  we 
still  lingered  upon  the  hurricane  deck,  he  shouted 
that  there  was  a  house  on  the  landing,  where  we 
could  get  a  good  bed.  This  changed  our  destiny,  and 
just  at  the  last  moment  we  hurried  on  shore.  Here 
we  found  that  the  '  good  bed '  our  friend  had  prom 
ised  us  was  in  an  old  mill,  which  had  been  converted 
into  an  Irish  shanty.  However,  we  made  the  best  of 
it,  and,  having  dispossessed  a  cat  and  a  small  army 
of  cockroaches  of  their  quarters  on  the  coverlet, 
we  lay  down  in  our  dressing-gowns  and  were  soon 
asleep," 


380  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

We  left  our  lowly  bed  in  the  gray  light  of  the 
morning,  to  find  the  rain  descending  in  torrents  and 
the  roads  knee-deep  in  mud.  Intelligence  of  our 
arrival  had  in  some  mysterious  manner  reached  Gen 
eral  Smith,  and  the  prophet's  own  chariot,  a  comfort 
able  carryall,  drawn  by  two  horses,  soon  made  its 
appearance.  It  is  probable  that  we  owed  true  alacrity 
with  which  we  were  served  to  an  odd  blunder  which 
had  combined  our  names  and  personalities  and  set 
forth  that  no  less  a  man  than  ex-President  John 
Quincy  Adams  had  arrived  to  visit  Mr.  Joseph  Smith. 
Happily,  however,  Dr.  Goforth,  who  had  got  upon  the 
road  before  us,  divided  our  persons  and  reduced  them 
to  their  proper  proportions,  so  that  no  trace  of  disap 
pointment  was  visible  in  the  group  of  rough-looking 
Mormons  who  awaited  our  descent  at  the  door  of  the 
tavern.  It  was  a  three-story  frame  house,  set  back 
from  the  street  and  surrounded  by  a  white  fence,  that 
we  had  reached  after  about  two  miles  of  the  muddiest 
driving.  Pre-eminent  among  the  stragglers  by  the 
door  stood  a  man  of  commanding  appearance,  clad  in 
the  costume  of  a  journeyman  carpenter  when  about 
his  work.  He  was  a  hearty,  athletic  fellow,  with 
blue  eyes  standing  prominently  out  upon  his  light 
complexion,  a  long  nose,  and  a  retreating  forehead. 
He  wore  striped  pantaloons,  a  linen  jacket,  which 
had  not  lately  seen  the  washtub,  and  a  beard  of 
some  three  days'  growth.  This  was  the  founder  of 
the  religion  which  had  been  preached  in  every  quar 
ter  of  the  earth.  As  Dr.  Goforth  introduced  us  to 
the  prophet,  he  mentioned  the  parentage  of  my  com- 


JOSEPH   SMITH  AT   NAUVOO.  381 

panion.  "  God  bless  you,  to  begin  with  ! "  said  Joseph 
Smith,  raising  his  hands  in  the  air  and  letting  them 
descend  upon  the  shoulders  of  Mr.  Adams.  The 
benediction,  though  evidently  sincere,  had  an  odd 
savor  of  what  may  be  called  official  familiarity,  such 
as  a  crowned  head  might  adopt  on  receiving  the  heir 
presumptive  of  a  friendly  court.  The  greeting  to  me 
was  cordial  —  with  that  sort  of  cordiality  with  which 
the  president  of  a  college  might  welcome  a  deserving 
janitor  —  and  a  blessing  formed  no  part  of  it.  "And 
now  come,  both  of  you,  into  the  house ! "  said  our 
host,  as,  suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  he  ushered 
us  across  the  threshold  of  his  tavern. 

A  fine-looking  man  is  what  the  passer-by  would 
instinctively  have  murmured  upon  meeting  the  re 
markable  individual  who  had  fashioned  the  mould 
which  was  to  shape  the  feelings  of  so  many  thousands 
of  his  fellow-mortals.  But  Smith  was  more  than 
this,  and  one  could  not  resist  the  impression  that 
capacity  and  resource  were  natural  to  his  stalwart 
person.  I  have  already  mentioned  the  resemblance 
he  bore  to  Elisha  E.  Potter,  of  Rhode  Island,  whom 
I  met  in  Washington  in  1826.  The  likeness  was 
not  such  as  would  be  recognized  in  a  picture,  but 
rather  one  that  would  be  felt  in  a  grave  emergency. 
Of  all  men  I  have  met,  these  two  seemed  best  en 
dowed  with  that  kingly  faculty  which  directs,  as  by 
intrinsic  right,  the  feeble  or  confused  souls  who  are 
looking  for  guidance.  This  it  is  just  to  say  with 
emphasis;  for  the  reader  will  find  so  much  that  is 
puerile  and  even  shocking  in  my  report  of  the 


382  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

prophet's  conversation  that  he  might  never  suspect 
the  impression  of  rugged  power  that  was  given  by 
the  man., 

On  the  right  hand,  as  we  entered  the  house,  was  a 
small  and  very  comfortless-looking  bar-room;  all' the 
more  comfortless,  perchance,  from  its  being  a  dry 
bar-room,  as  no  spirituous  liquors  were  permitted  at 
Nauvoo.  In  apparent  search  for  more  private  quar 
ters,  the  prophet  opened  the  door  of  a  room  on  the 
left.  He  instantly  shut  it  again,  but  not  before  I 
perceived  that  the  obstacle  to  our  entrance  was  its 
prior  occupancy  by  a  woman,  in  bed.  He  then  ran 
up-stairs,  calling  upon  us  to  follow  him,  and,  throw 
ing  open  a  door  in  the  second  story,  disclosed  three 
Mormons  in  three  beds.  This  was  not  satisfactory; 
neither  was  the  next  chamber,  which  was  found,  on 
inspection,  to  contain  two  sleeping  disciples.  The 
third  attempt  was  somewhat  more  fortunate,  for  we 
had  found  a  room  which  held  but  a  single  bed  and  a 
single  sleeper.  Into  this  apartment  we  were  invited 
to  enter,  Our  host  immediately  proceeded  to  the 
bed,  and  drew  the  clothes  well  over  the  head  of  its 
occupant.  He  then  called  a  man  to  make  a  fire,  and 
begged  us  to  sit  down.  Smith  then  began  to  talk 
about  himself  and  his  people,  as,  of  course,  we  en 
couraged  him  to  do.  He  addressed  his  words  to 
Mr.  Adams  oftener  than  to  me,  evidently  thinking 
that  this  gentleman  had  or  was  likely  to  have  polit 
ical  influence,  which  it  was  desirable  to  conciliate. 
Whether  by  subtle  tact  or  happy  accident,  he  intro 
duced  us  to  Mormonism  as  a  secular  institution 


JOSEPH   SMITH   AT   NAUVOO.  383 

before  stating  its  monstrous  claims  as  a  religious  sys 
tem.  Polygamy,  it  must  be  remembered,  formed  no 
part  of  the  alleged  revelations  upon  which  the  social 
life  at  Nauvoo  was  based ;  indeed,  the  recorded  pre 
cepts  of  its  prophet  were  utterly  opposed  to  such  a 
practice,  and  it  is,  at  least,  doubtful  whether  this 
barbarism  was  in  any  way  sanctioned  by  Smith.  Let 
a  man  who  has  so  much  to  answer  for  be  allowed  the 
full  benefit  of  the  doubt;  and  Mormonism,  minus  the 
spiritual  wife  system,  had,  as  it  has  to-day,  much  that 
was  interesting  in  its  secular  aspects.  Its  founder 
told  us  what  he  had  accomplished  and  the  terrible 
persecutions  through  which  he  had  brought  his  peo 
ple.  He  spoke  with  bitterness  of  outrages  to  which 
they  had  been  subjected  in  Missouri,  and  implied 
that  the  wanton  barbarities  of  his  lawless  enemies 
must  one  day  be  atoned  for.  He  spoke  of  the  indus 
trial  results  of  his  autocracy  in  the  holy  city  we  were 
visiting,  and  of  the  extraordinary  powers  of  its  charter, 
obtained  through  his  friend,  Governor  Ford.  The 
past  had  shown  him  that  a  military  organization  was 
necessary.  He  was  now  at  the  head  of  three  thou 
sand  men,  equipped  by  the  State  of  Illinois  and  be 
longing  to  its  militia,  and  the  Saints  were  prepared 
to  fight  as  well  as  to  work.  "  I  decided,"  said  Smith, 
"  that  the  commander  of  my  troops  ought  to  be  a 
lieutenant-general,  and  I  was,  of  course,  chosen  to 
that  position.  I  sent  my  certificate  of  election  to 
Governor  Ford,  and  received  in  return  a  commission 
of  lieutenant-general  of  the  Nauvoo  Legion  and  of 
the  militia  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  Now,  on  exam- 


384  FIGURES   OF   THE   PAST. 

ining  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  I  find 
that  an  officer  must  be  tried  by  a  court-martial  com 
posed  of  his  equals  in  rank ;  and  as  I  am  the  only 
lieutenant-general  in  the  country,  I  think  they  will 
find  it  pretty  hard  to  try  rne." 

At  this  point  breakfast  was  announced,  and  a  sub 
stantial  meal  was  served  in  a  long  back  kitchen.  We 
sat  down  with  about  thirty  persons,  some  of  them 
being  in  their  shirt-sleeves,  as  if  just  come  from  work. 
There  was  no  going  out,  as  the  rain  still  fell  in  tor 
rents  ;  arid  so,  when  we  had  finished  breakfast,  the 
prophet  (who  had  exchanged  his  working  dress  for  a 
broadcloth  suit  while  we  lingered  at  the  table)  pro 
posed  to  return  to  the  chamber  we  had  quitted, 
where  he  would  give  us  his  views  of  theology.  The 
bed  had  been  made  during  our  absence  and  the  fire 
plentifully  replenished.  Our  party  was  now  in 
creased  by  the  presence  of  the  patriarch,  Hiram 
Smith ;  Dr.  Eichards,  of  Philadelphia,  who  seemed 
to  be  a  very  modest  and  respectable  Mormon  ;  Dr. 
Goforth  ;  and  a  Methodist  minister,  whose  name  I 
have  not  preserved.  ISTo  sooner  were  we  seated  than 
there  entered  some  half-dozen  leaders  of  the  sect, 
among  whom,  I  think,  were  Eigdon  and  Young ;  but 
of  their  presence  I  cannot  be  positive.  These  men 
constituted  a  sort  of  silent  chorus  during  the  expo 
sitions  of  their  chief.  They  fixed  a  searching,  yet 
furtive  gaze  upon  Mr.  Adams  and  myself,  as  if 
eager  to  discover  how  we  were  impressed  by  what 
we  heard.  Of  the  wild  talk  that  we  listened  to  I 
have  preserved  but  a  few  fragments.  Smith  was 


JOSEPH   SMITH  AT   NAUVOO.  385 

well  versed  in  the  letter  of  the  Scriptures,  though  he 
had  little  comprehension  of  their  spirit.  He  began 
by  denying  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  sup 
ported  his  views  by  the  glib  recitation  of  a  num 
ber  of  texts.  From  this  he  passed  to  his  own 
claims  to  special  inspiration,  quoting  with  great 
emphasis  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  verses  of  the 
fourth  chapter  of  Ephesians,  which,  in  his  eyes, 
adumbrated  the  whole  Mormon  hierarchy.  The  de 
grees  and  orders  of  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  he  set 
forth  with  great  precision,  being  careful  to  mention 
the  interesting  revelation  which  placed  Joseph  Smith 
supreme  above  them  all.  This  information  was 
plentifully  besprinkled  with  cant  phrases  or  homely 
proverbs.  "  There,  I  have  proved  that  point  as 
straight  as  a  loon's  leg."  "  The  curses  of  my  enemies 
run  off  from  me  like  water  from  a  duck's  back." 
Such  are  the  specimens  which  my  journal  happens 
to  preserve,  but  the  exposition  was  constantly  gar 
nished  with  forcible  vulgarisms  of  a  similar  sort. 
The  prophet  referred  to  his  miraculous  gift  of  under 
standing  all  languages,  and  took  down  a  Bible  in 
various  tongues,  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  his 
accomplishments  in  this  particular.  Our  position 
as  guests  prevented  our  testing  his  powers  by  a 
rigid  examination,  and  the  rendering  of  a  few  familiar 
texts  seemed  to  be  accepted  by  his  followers  as  a 
triumphant  demonstration  of  his  abilities.  It  may 
have  been  an  accident,  but  I  observed  that  the  bulk 
of  his  translations  were  from  the  Hebrew,  which, 
presumably,  his  visitors  did  not  understand,  rather 

25 


386  FIGURES    OF   THE   PAST. 

than   from  the   classical   languages,  in   which   they 
might  more  easily  have  caught  him  tripping. 

"  And  now  come  with  me,"  said  the  prophet, "  and 
I  will  show  you  the  curiosities."  So  saying,  he  led 
the  way  to  a  lower  room,  where  sat  a  venerable 
and  respectable-looking  lady.  "This  is  my  mother, 
gentlemen.  The  curiosities  we  shall  see  belong  to 
her.  They  were  purchased  with  her  own  money,  at 
a  cost  of  six  thousand  dollars  ; "  and  then,  with  deep 
feeling,  were  added  the  words,  "And  that  woman  was 
turned  out  upon  the  prairie  in  the  dead  of  night  by 
a  mob."  There  were  some  pine  presses  fixed  against 
the  wall  of  the  room.  These  receptacles  Smith 
opened,  and  disclosed  four  human  bodies,  shrunken 
and  black  with  age.  "  These  are  mummies,"  said  the 
exhibitor.  "  I  want  you  to  look  at  that  little  runt 
of  a  fellow  over  there.  He  was  a  great  man  in  his 
day.  Why,  that  was  Pharaoh  JSTecho,  King  of 
Egypt  ! "  Some  parchments  inscribed  with  hiero 
glyphics  were  then  offered  us.  They  were  preserved 
under  glass  and  handled  with  great  respect.  "  That 
is  the  handwriting  of  Abraham,  the  Father  of  the 
Faithful,"  said  the  prophet.  "  This  is  the  autograph 
of  Moses,  and  these  lines  were  written  by  his  brother 
Aaron.  Here  we  have  the  earliest  account  of  the 
Creation,  from  which  Moses  composed  the  First 
Book  of  Genesis."  The  parchment  last  referred  to 
showed  a  rude  drawing  of  a  man  and  woman,  and 
a  serpent  walking  upon  a  pair  of  legs.  I  ventured 
to  doubt  the  propriety  of  providing  the  reptile  in 
question  with  this  unusual  means  of  locomotion. 


JOSEPH   SMITH  AT  NAUVOO.  387 

"  Why,  that 's  as  plain  as  a  pikestaff/1  was  the  re 
joinder.  "  Before  the  Fall  snakes  always  went 
about  on  legs,  just  like  chickens.  They  were  de 
prived  of  them,  in  punishment  for  their  agency 'in 
the  ruin  of  man."  We  were  further  assured  that  the 
prophet  was  the  only  mortal  who  could  translate 
these  mysterious  writings,  and  that  his  power  was 
given  by  direct  inspiration. 

It  is  well  known  that  Joseph  Smith  was  accus 
tomed  to  make  his  revelations  point  to  those  sturdy 
business  habits  which  lead  to  prosperity  in  this 
present  life.  He  had  little  enough  of  that  unmixed 
spiritual  power  which  flashed  out  from  the  spare, 
neurasthenic  body  of  Andrew  Jackson.  The  proph 
et's  hold  upon  you  seemed  to  come  from  the  bal 
ance  and  harmony  of  temperament  which  reposes 
upon  a  large  physical  basis.  No  association  with 
the  sacred  phrases  of  Scripture  could  keep  the  in 
spirations  of  this  man  from  getting  down  upon  the 
hard  pan  of  practical  affairs.  "Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  let  my  servant,  Sidney  Gilbert,  plant  himself 
in  tliis  place  and  establish  a  store."  So  had  run  one 
of  his  revelations,  in  which  no  holier  spirit  titan  that 
of  commerce  is  discernible.  The  exhibition  of  these 
august  relics  concluded  with  a  similar  descent  into 
the  hard  modern  world  of  fact.  Monarchs,  patriarchs, 
and  parchments  were  very  well  in  their  way;  but 
this  was  clearly  the  nineteenth  century,  when  proph 
ets  must  get  a  living  and  provide  for  their  rela 
tions.  "  Gentlemen"  said  this  bourgeois  Mohammed, 
as  he  closed  the  cabinets,  "  those  who  see  these  curiosi 
ties  generally  pay  my  mother  a  quarter  of  a  dollar." 


388  FIGURES   OF   THE  PAST. 


II. 


THE  clouds  had  parted  when  we  emerged  from 
the  chamber  of  curiosities,  and  there  was  time  to  see 
the  Temple  before  dinner.  General  Smith  ordered  a 
capacious  carriage,  and  we  drove  to  that  beautiful 
eminence,  bounded  on  three  sides  by  the  Mississippi, 
which  was  covered  by  the  holy  city  of  Nauvoo.  The 
curve  in  the  river  enclosed  a  position  lovely  enough 
to  furnish  a  site  for  the  Utopian  communities  of 
Plato  or  Sir  Thomas  More ;  and  here  was  an  orderly 
city,  magnificently  laid  out,  and  teeming  with  activity 
and  enterprise.  And  all  the  diligent  workers,  who 
had  reared  these  handsome  stores  and  comfortable 
dwellings,  bowed  in  subjection  to  the  man  to  whose 
unexampled  absurdities  we  had  listened  that  morn 
ing.  Not  quite  unexampled  either.  For  many  years 
I  held  a  trusteeship  which  required  me  to  be  a  fre 
quent  visitor  at  the  McLean  Asylum  for  the  Insane. 
T  had  talked  with  some  of  its  unhappy  inmates,  vic 
tims  of  the  sad  but  not  uncommon  delusion  that  each 
had  received  the  appointment  of  vicegerent  of  the 
Deity  upon  earth.  It  is  well  known  that  such  unfor 
tunates,  if  asked  to  explain  their  confinement,  have  a 
ready  reply:  "  I  am  sane.  The  rest  of  the  world  is  mad, 
and  the  majority  is  against  me."  It  was  like  a  dream 
to  find  one's  self  moving  through  a  prosperous  commu 
nity,  where  the  repulsive  claim  of  one  of  these  pre 
tenders  was  respectfully  acknowledged.  It  was  said 
that  Prince  Hamlet  had  no  need  to  recover  his  wits 


JOSEPH   SMITH  AT  NAUVOO.  389 

when  he  was  despatched  to  England,  for  the  de 
mented  denizens  of  that  island  would  never  detect 
his  infirmity.  If  the  blasphemous  assumptions  of 
Smith  seemed  like  the  ravings  of  a  lunatic,  he  had, 
at  least,  brought  them  to  a  market  where  "  all  the 
people  were  as  mad  as  he."  Near  the  entrance  to 
the  Temple  we  passed  a  workman  who  was  laboring 
upon  a  huge  sun,  which  he  had  chiselled  from  the 
solid  rock.  The  countenance  was  of  the  negro  type, 
and  it  was  surrounded  by  the  conventional  rays. 

"  General  Smith,"  said  the  man,  looking  up  from 
his  task,  "  is  this  like  the  face  you  saw  in  vision  ?  " 

"  Very  near  it,"  answered  the  prophet,  "  except " 
(this  was  added  with  an  air  of  careful  connoisseurship 
that  was  quite  overpowering)  — "  except  that  the 
nose  is  just  a  thought  too  broad." 

The  Mormon  Temple  was  not  fully  completed.  It 
was  a  wonderful  structure,  altogether  indescribable  by 
me.  Being,  presumably,  like  something  Smith  had 
seen  in  vision,  it  certainly  cannot  be  compared  to  any 
ecclesiastical  building  which  may  be  discerned  by 
the  natural  eyesight.  It  was  built  of  limestone,  and 
was  partially  supported  by  huge  monolithic  pillars, 
each  costing,  said  the  prophet,  three  thousand  dollars. 
Then  in  the  basement  was  the  baptistery,  which  cen 
tred  in  a  mighty  tank,  surrounded  by  twelve  wooden 
oxen  of  colossal  size.  These  animals,  we  were  as 
sured,  were  temporary.  They  were  to  be  replaced  by 
stone  oxen  as  fast  as  they  could  be  made.  The  Tem 
ple,  odd  and  striking  as  it  was,  produced  no  effect  that 
was  commensurate  with  its  cost.  Perhaps  it  would 


390  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

have  required  a  genius  to  have  designed  anything 
worthy  of  that  noble  site.  The  city  of  Nauvoo,  with 
its  wide  streets  sloping  gracefully  to  the  farms  en 
closed  on  the  prairie,  seemed  to  be  a  better  temple  to 
Him  who  prospers  the  work  of  industrious  hands 
than  the  grotesque  structure  on  the  hill,  with  all  its 
queer  carvings  of  moons  and  suns.  This,  however, 
was  by  no  means  the  opinion  of  the  man  whose  fiat 
had  reared  the  building.  In  a  tone  half-way  between 
jest  and  earnest,  and  which  might  have  been  taken  for 
either  at  the  option  of  the  hearer,  the  prophet  put  this 
inquiry  :  "  Is  not  here  one  greater  than  Solomon,  who 
built  a  Temple  with  the  treasures  of  his  father  David 
and  with  the  assistance  of  Huram,  King  of  Tyre  ? 
Joseph  Smith  has  built  his  Temple  with  no  one  to 
aid  him  in  the  work." 

On  returning  to  the  tavern,  dinner  was  served  in 
the  kitchen  where  we  had  breakfasted.  The  prophet 
carved  at  one  end  of  the  board,  while  some  twenty 
persons,  Mormons  or  travellers  (the  former  mostly 
coatless),  were  scattered  along  its  sides.  At  the  close 
of  a  substantial  meal  a  message  was  brought  to  the 
effect  that  the  United  States  marshal  had  arrived 
and  wished  to  speak  to  Mr.  Adams.  This  officer, 
as  it  turned  out,  wanted  my  companion's  advice 
about  the  capture  of  some  criminal,  for  whom  he  had 
a  warrant.  The  matter  was  one  of  some  difficulty, 
for,  the  prophet  being  absolute  in  Nauvoo,  no  man 
could  be  arrested  or  held  without  his  permission.  I 
do  not  remember  what  was  the  outcome  of  this  in 
terview,  which  was  so  protracted  that  it  caused  Mr. 


JOSEPH   SMITH   AT  NAUVOO.  391 

Adams  to  miss  one  of  the  most  notable  exhibitions 
of  the  day. 

"  General  Smith,"  said  Dr.  Goforth,  when  we  had 
adjourned  to  the  green  in  front  of  the  tavern,  "  I 
think  Mr.  Quincy  would  like  to  hear  you  preach." 
"Then  I  shall  be  happy  to  do  so,"  was  the  obliging 
reply ;  and,  mounting  the  broad  step  which  led  from 
the  house,  the  prophet  promptly  addressed  a  sermon 
to  the  little  group  about  him.  Our  numbers  were 
constantly  increased  from  the  passers  in  the  street, 
and  a  most  attentive  audience  of  more  than  a  hun 
dred  persons  soon  hung  upon  every  word  of  the 
speaker.  The  text  was  Mark  xvi.  15,  and  the  com 
ments,  though  rambling  and  disconnected,  were  deliv 
ered  with  the  fluency  and  fervor  of  a  camp-meeting 
orator.  The  discourse  was  interrupted  several  times 
by  the  Methodist  minister  before  referred  to,  who 
thought  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  question  the 
soundness  of  certain  theological  positions  maintained 
by  the  speaker.  One  specimen  of  the  sparring  which 
ensued  I  thought  worth  setting  down.  The  prophet 
is  asserting  that  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins  is 
essential  for  salvation.  Minister.  Stop !  What  do 
you  say  to  the  case  of  the  penitent  thief  ?  Prophet. 
What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  Minister.  You  know  our 
Saviour  said  to  the  thief,  "This  day  shalt  thou  be 
with  me  in  Paradise,"  which  shows  he  could  not  have 
been  baptized  before  his  admission.  Prophet.  How 
do  you  know  he  was  n't  baptized  before  he  became  a 
thief?  At  this  retort  the  sort  of  laugh  that  is  pro 
voked  by  an  unexpected  hit  ran  through  the  audience ; 


392  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

but  this  demonstration  of  sympathy  was  rebuked  by 
a  severe  look  from  Smith,  who  went  on  to  say :  "  But 
that  is  not  the  true  answer.  In  the  original  Greek, 
as  this  gentleman  [turning  to  me]  will  inform  you, 
the  word  that  has  been  translated  paradise  means 
simply  a  place  of  departed  spirits.  To  that  place 
the  penitent  thief  was  conveyed,  and  there,  doubtless, 
he  received  the  baptism  necessary  for  his  admission 
to  the  heavenly  kingdom."  The  other  objections  of 
his  antagonist  were  parried  with  a  similar  adroitness, 
and  in  about  fifteen  minutes  the  prophet  concluded  a 
sermon  which  it  was  evident  that  his  disciples  had 
heard  with  the  heartiest  satisfaction. 

In  the  afternoon  we  drove  to  visit  the  farms  upon 
the  prairie  which  this  enterprising  people  had  enclosed 
and  were  cultivating  with  every  appearance  of  suc 
cess.  On  returning,  we  stopped  in  a  beautiful  grove, 
where  there  were  seats  and  a  platform  for  speaking. 
"  When  the  weather  permits,"  said  Smith,  "  we  hold 
our  services  in  this  place ;  but  shall  cease  to  do  so 
when  the  Temple  is  finished."  "  I  suppose  none  but 
Mormon  preachers  are  allowed  in  Nauvoo,"  said  the 
Methodist  minister,  who  had  accompanied  our  expe 
dition.  "  On  the  contrary,"  replied  the  prophet,  "  I 
shall  be  very  happy  to  have  you  address  my  people 
next  Sunday,  and  I  will  insure  you  a  most  attentive 
congregation."  "What!  do  you  mean  that  I  may 
say  anything  I  please  and  that  you  will  make  no 
reply  ? "  "  You  may  certainly  say  anything  you 
please;  but  I  must  reserve  the  right  of  adding  a  word 
or  two,  if  I  judge  best.  I  promise  to  speak  of  you  in 


JOSEPH   SMITH   AT  NAUVOO.  393 

the  most  respectful  manner."  As  we  rode  back,  there 
was  morev  dispute  between  the  minister  and  Smith. 
"  Come,"  said  the  latter,  suddenly  slapping  his  antag 
onist  on  the  knee,  to  emphasize  the  production  of  a 
triumphant  text,  "  if  you  can't  argue  better  than  that, 
you  shall  say  all  you  want  to  say  to  my  people,  and 
I  will  promise  to  hold  my  fongue,  for  there  's  not  a 
Mormon  among  them  who  would  need  my  assistance 
to  answer  you."  Some  back-thrust  was  evidently  re 
quired  to  pay  for  this ;  and  the  minister,  soon  after, 
having  occasion  to  allude  to  some  erroneous  doctrine 

o 

which  I  forget,  suddenly  exclaimed,  "Why,  I  told 
my  congregation  the  other  Sunday  that  they  might 
as  well  believe  Joe  Smith  as  such  theology  as  that." 
"  Did  you  say  Joe  Smith  in  a  sermon  ? "  inquired  the 
person  to  whom  the  title  had  been  applied.  "  Of 
course  I  did.  Why  not  ?"  The  prophet's  reply  was 
given  with  a  quiet  superiority  that  was  overwhelming  : 
"  Considering  only  the  day  and  the  place,  it  would 
have  been  more  respectful  to  have  said  Lieutenant- 
General  Joseph  Smith."  Clearly,  the  worthy  minister 
was  no  match  for  the  head  of  the  Mormon  church. 

I  have  before  me  some  relics  of  my  visit  to  Nauvoo. 
Here  is  the  Book  of  Mormon,  bearing  the  autograph 
which  its  alleged  discoverer  and  translator  wrote,  at 
my  request ;  and  here  are  some  letters  addressed  to 
the  same  personage,  which  I  came  by  strangely 
enough.  I  took  them  from  a  public  basket  of  waste- 
paper,  which  was  placed  for  the  service  of  the 
inmates  of  the  tavern.  Three  of  these  abandoned 
epistles  I  asked  leave  to  keep  as  memorials  of  my 


394  FKJU1IKS    OK    Till]    PAST. 

visit,  and  no  objection  \v;is  made  to  my  doing  HO.     The 
most  interesting  of  these  letters  is  dated  "  Manchester, 
August  L>(.>,  l,SlL',"and  comes  from  ;in  Knglish  convert 
l.o    Moriiiomsin.      The   man  writes    lour    pugrs  of  gilt- 
edged  IKIJX:!-  to  liis  "  beloved  broil, cr  in  ||1(.  Lord,"  and 
sends  him   by   tin;  i'avor  of  Klder  Snider   Hie    follow 
ing   presents  :  "  A  hat,  a  black  satin  stock  with  front, 
and  a  brooch."     He   would   lain  join  the  prophet  in 
Nauvoo;  but  the  way  is  blocked  by  that  not-unheard- 
of  obstacle,  a  mother-in-law,  and  until    this  excellent 
l:idy  "falls    asleep"  the,  disciple  must  deny  his  eyes 
the  sight  of  the  master's  face.     The   account   of  him 
self  given    by   this    correspondent    shows  with  what 
pathetic  sincerity  tin;  divine  commission    of    Smith 
was  accepted  by  a  class  of  men  which  would  seem   to 
be  intellectually  superior  to  so  miserable,   a  delusion. 
Suppressing  the    name  of  tin;    writer,    I    shall   give  a 
portion  of  this  letter,  as  it  furnishes  food  for  relied  ion, 
and  shows  that  the  secret  of  the  Mormon  prophet  is 
riot  to  be  fathomed  at  a  glance:  — 

"I  take  the  liberty  of  writing  a  few  lines,  being 
assured  thai  you  are  a  manoffiod  and  a  prophet  of 
the  Most  High,  not  only  from  testimony  given  by  the 
brethren,  but  the  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness.  It  is 
true  that  mine  eyes  have;  not  seen  and  mine  ears 
heard  you  ;  but  the  testimony  I  have  received  shows 
pl;mdy  that  God  does  reveal  by  his  Spirit  things  that 
the  natural  man  has  not  seen  by  his  natural  eyes. 
You  may  perhaps  wonder  who  the  individual  is  that 
has  written  this  letter.  I  will  tell  you,  in  a  few 
words  :  My  father  died  about  twenty-four  years  since, 


JOSEPH   SMITH   AT  NAUVOO.  395 

leaving  my  mother  a  widow  with  seven  children.  .  .  . 
I  remember  her  teachings  well,  which  were  these: 
Fear  God,  be  strictly  honest,  and  speak  the  truth.  I 
remember,  when  about  three  or  four  years  old,  being 
with  her  in  a  shop.  I  saw  a  pin  on  the  floor.  I 
picked  it  up  and  gave  it  to  her.  She  told  me  to 
give  it  to  the  shopman,  with  a  sharp  reprimand,  show 
ing  me  that  it  was  a  sin  to  take  even  a  pin.  The 
remembrance  of  this  slight  circumstance  has  followed 
me  from  that  time  to  the  present.  [An  account  of 
the  writer's  conversion  to  Mormonism  follows,  after 
which  he  goes  on  thus.]  Previously  to  joining  this 
Church,  I  was  a  singer  in  the  Church  of  England, 
had  eight  pounds  a  year,  and  a  good  situation  in  the 
week-time  at  a  retail  hat  shop.  My  wife's  brother 
told  me  I  was  robbing  my  children  of  their  bread  in 
giving  up  the  eight  pounds.  I  told  him  I  was  not 
dependent  on  that  for  bread,  and  said  unto  him  the 
Lord  could  make  up  the  difference.  He  laughed  at 
me  ;  but,  beloved  brother,  in  about  one  month  from 
the  time  I  left  the  Church  of  England  my  master 
raised  my  wages  four  shillings  a  week  (which  was 
about  one  shilling  per  week  more  than  that  just  sac 
rificed),  and  this  has  continued  on  ever  since,  which 
is  now  two  years  this  month,  for  which  I  thank  the 
Lord,  together  with  many  other  mercies." 

I  have  quoted  enough  to  show  what  really  good 
material  Smith  managed  to  draw  into  his  net.  Were 
such  fish  to  be  caught  with  Spaulding's  tedious  ro 
mance  and  a  puerile  fable  of  undecipherable  gold 
plates  and  gigantic  spectacles  ?  Not  these  cheap  and 


396  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

wretched  properties,  but  some  mastering  force  of  the 
man  who  handled  them,  inspired  the  devoted  mis 
sionaries  who  worked  such  wonders.  The  remaining 
letters,  both  written  a  year  previous  to  my  visit, 
came  from  a  certain  Chicago  attorney,  who  seems  to 
have  been  the  personal  friend  as  well  as  the  legal 
adviser  of  the  prophet.  With  the  legal  advice  come 
warnings  of  plots  which  enemies  are  preparing,  and 
of  the  probability  that  a  seizure  of  his  person  by  secret 
ambush  is  contemplated.  "  They  hate  you,"  writes 
this  friendly  lawyer,  "  because  they  have  done  evil 
unto  you.  .  .  .  My  advice  to  you  is  not  to  sleep  in 
your  own  house,  but  to  have  some  place  to  sleep 
strongly  guarded  by  your  own  friends,  so  that  you 
can  resist  any  sudden  attempt  that  might  be  made 
to  kidnap  you  in  the  night.  When  the  Missourians 
come  on  this  side  and  burn  houses,  depend  upon  it 
they  will  not  hesitate  to  make  the  attempt  to  carry 
you  away  by  force.  Let  me  again  caution  you  to  be 
every  moment  upon  your  guard."  The  man  to  whom 
this  letter  was  addressed  had  long  been  familiar  with 
perils.  For  fourteen  years  he  was  surrounded  by 
vindictive  enemies,  who  lost  no  opportunity  to  harass 
him.  He  was  in  danger  even  \vhen  we  saw  him  at 
the  summit  of  his  prosperity,  and  he  was  soon  to  seal 
his  testimony  —  or,  if  you  will,  to  expiate  his  impos 
ture —  by  death  at  the  hands  of  dastardly  assassins. 
If  these  letters  go  little  way  toward  interpreting  the 
man,  they  suggest  that  any  hasty  interpretation  of  him 
is  inadequate. 

I  should  not  say  quite  all  that  struck  me  about 


JOSEPH   SMITH   AT   NAUVOO.  397 

Smith  if  I  did  not  mention  that  he  seemed  to  have  a 
keen  sense  of  the  humorous  aspects  of  his  position. 
"  It  seems  to  me,  General,"  I  said,  as  he  was  driving 
us  to  the  river,  about  sunset,  "  that  you  have  too  much 
power  to  be  safely  trusted  to  one  man."  "  In  your 
hands  or  that  of  any  other  person,"  was  the  reply, 
"  so  much  power  would,  no  doubt,  be  dangerous.  I 
am  the  only  man  in  the  world  whom  it  would  be 
safe  to  trust  with  it.  Eemember,  I  am  a  prophet !  " 
The  last  five  words  were  spoken  in  a  rich,  comical 
aside,  as  if  in  hearty  recognition  of  the  ridiculous 
sound  they  might  have  in  the  ears  of  a  Gentile.  I 
asked  him  to  test  his  powers  by  naming  the  success 
ful  candidate  in  the  approaching  presidential  election. 
"  Well,  I  will  prophesy  that  John  Tyler  will  not  be 
the  next  President,  for  some  things  are  possible 
and  some  things  are  probable ;  but  Tyler's  election 
is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other."  We  then  went 
on  to  talk  of  politics.  Smith  recognized  the  curse 
and  iniquity  of  slavery,  though  he  opposed  the 
methods  of  the  Abolitionists.  His  plan  was  for 
the  nation  to  pay  for  the  slaves  from  the  sale  of  the 
public  lands.  "  Congress,"  he  said,  "  should  be  com 
pelled  to  take  this  course,  by  petitions  from  all 
parts  of  the  country ;  but  the  petitioners  must  dis 
claim  all  alliance  with  those  who  would  disturb 
the  rights  of  property  recognized  by  the  Constitution 
and  foment  insurrection."  It  may  be  worth  while  to 
remark  that  Smith's  plan  was  publicly  advocated, 
eleven  years  later,  by  one  who  has  mixed  so  much 
practical  shrewdness  with  his  lofty  philosophy.  In 


398  FIGURES   OF  THE  PAST. 

1855,  when  men's  minds  had  been  moved  to  their 
depths  on  the  question  of  slavery,  Mr.  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  declared  that  it  should  be  met  in  accordance 
"  with  the  interest  of  the  South  and  with  the  settled 
conscience  of  the  North.  It  is  not  really  a  great 
task,  a  great  fight  for  this  country  to  accomplish,  to 
buy  that  property  of  the  planter,  as  the  British  na 
tion  bought  the  West  Indian  slaves."  He  further 
says  that  the  "  United  States  will  be  brought  to  give 
every  inch  of  their  public  lands  for  a  purpose  like 
this."  We,  who  cari  look  back  upon  the  terrible 
cost  of  the  fratricidal  war  which  put  an  end  to 
slavery,  now  say  that  such  a  solution  of  the  difficulty 
would  have  been  worthy  a  Christian  statesman. 
But  if  the  retired  scholar  was  in  advance  of  his 
time  when  he  advocated  this  disposition  of  the  public 
property  in  1855,  what  shall  I  say  of  the  political 
and  religious  leader  who  had  committed  himself,  in 
print,  as  well  as  in  conversation,  to  the  same  course 
in  1844  ?  If  the  atmosphere  of  men's  opinions  was 
stirred  by  such  a  proposition  when  war-clouds  were 
discernible  in  the  sky,  was  it  not  a  statesmanlike 
word  eleven  years  earlier,  when  the  heavens  looked 
tranquil  and  beneficent  ? 

General  Smith  proceeded  to  unfold  still  further  his 
views  upon  politics.  He  denounced  the  Missouri 
Compromise  as  an  unjustifiable  concession  for  the 
benefit  of  slavery.  It  was  Henry  Clay's  bid  for  the 
presidency.  Dr.  Goforth  might  have  spared  himself 
the  trouble  of  coming  to  Nauvoo  to  electioneer  for 
a  duellist  who  would  fire  at  John  Eandolph,  but  was 


JOSEPH   SMITH   AT  NAUVOO.  399 

not  brave  enough  to  protect  the  Saints  in  their  rights 
as  American  citizens.     Clay  had  told  his  people  to 
go  to  the  wilds  of  Oregon  and  set  up  a  government 
of  their  own.     Oh  yes,  the  Saints  might  go  into  the 
wilderness  and  obtain  justice  of  the   Indians,  which 
imbecile,   time-serving    politicians   would    not   give 
them   in   the   land  of  freedom   and    equality.     The 
prophet   then  talked  of  the  details   of  government. 
He  thought  that  the  number  of  members  admitted 
to   the   Lower   House   of  the   National   Legislature 
should  be  reduced.     A  crowd  only  darkened  counsel 
and   impeded   business.     A   member   to   every  half 
million  of  population  would  be  ample.     The  powers 
of  the   President  should   be  increased.     He    should 
have  authority  to  put  down  rebellion  in  a  state,  with 
out  waiting  for  the  request  of  any  governor ;  for  it 
might  happen  that  the  governor  himself  would  be 
the  leader  of  the  rebels.     It  is  needless  to  remark 
how   later   events   showed  the   executive   weakness 
that   Smith   pointed   out,  —  a  weakness  which   cost 
thousands  of  valuable  lives  and  millions  of  treasure ; 
but   the   man   mingled   Utopian   fallacies    with   his 
shrewd   suggestions.     He   talked   as   from  a   strong 
mind  utterly  unenlightened  by  the  teachings  of  his 
tory.     Finally,  he  told  us  what  he  would  do,  were 
he  President  of  the   United  States,  and  went  on  to 
mention  that  he  might  one  day  so  hold  the  balance 
between   parties  as  to   render  his  election   to  that 
office  by  no  means  unlikely. 

Who  can  wonder  that  the  chair  of  the  National 
Executive  had  its  place  among  the  visions  of  this 


400  FIGURES   OF  THE   PAST. 

self-reliant  man  ?  He  had  already  traversed  the 
roughest  part  of  the  way  to  that  coveted  position. 
Born  in  the  lowest  ranks  of  poverty,  without  book- 
learning  and  with  the  homeliest  of  all  human  names, 
he  had  made  himself  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine  a 
power  upon  earth.  Of  the  multitudinous  family  of 
Smith,  from  Adam  down  (Adam  of  the  "  Wealth  of 
Nations/-  I  mean),  none  had  so  won  human  hearts 
and  shaped  human  lives  as  this  Joseph.  His  in 
fluence,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  is  potent  to-day, 
and  the  end  is  not  yet. 

I  have  endeavored  to  give  the  details  of  my  visit 
to  the  Mormon  prophet  with  absolute  accuracy.  If 
the  reader  does  not  know  just  what  to  make  of 
Joseph  Smith,  I  cannot  help  him  out  of  the  difficulty. 
I  myself  stand  helpless  before  the  puzzle. 


INDEX   OF  NAMES. 


A. 

Adams,  Alvin,  346. 

Adams,  Charles  F.,  378,  390. 

Adams,  George,  21. 

Adams,  Hannah,  328-333. 

Adams,  John,  58-95,  passim. 

Adams,  Mrs.  John,  61. 

Adams,  John  Q.,  42,  72,  76,  260, 

290,  361. 

Amor)7,  Rut  us  Greene,  259. 
Anderson,  Larz,  260,  261,  262. 
Archer,  William  S.,  287,  288. 


B. 

Barnard,  Hezekiah,  183. 
Barmvell,  R.  W.,  16,  18,  50. 
Belmont,  August,*171. 
Binney,  John,  203. 
Black,  Mrs.,  77. 
Blake,  George,  178. 
Bollman,  Erie,  120. 
Bonaparte,  Lucien,  299. 
Bowditch,  Nathaniel,  106. 
Bray,  comic  actor,  29. 
Brimmer,  Mai-tin,  291. 
Bryant,  Lemuel,  94. 
Buchanan,  James,  206. 
Bullett,  Miss,  260,  301. 


Burnell,  Barker,  180,  184. 
Byles,  Mather,  71. 


c. 

Calhoun,  J.  C.,  263,  264. 
Calhoun,  Miss,  264. 
Carroll,  Charles,  294,  295. 
Channing,  W.  E.,  303,  307-311. 
Cheverus,  Cardinal,  311,  313. 
Clailin,  Thomas  J.,  356. 
Clapham,  Miss,  297. 
Clay,  Henry,  215,  216,  398,  399. 
Cleaves,  The  Misses,  197. 
Coffin,  Micajah,  184-187. 
Colt,  Judge,  338. 
Cooper,  Samuel,  169. 
Cooper,  Thomas  Apthorpe,  200. 
Craigie,  Andrew,  25-27,  passim. 
Cranch,  William,  73. 
Gushing,  Caleb,  52. 


D. 

De  Britto,  Captain,  247. 
Degrand,  P.  P.  F.,  350. 
Derby,  R,  C.,  142.  ' 
Dickinson,  John,  78,  79. 
Dickinson,  Miss  Julia,  336. 
Dimmock,  W.  R.,  95. 


402 


INDEX   OF   NAMES. 


Dorr,  Jonathan,  355. 
"Downing,  Jack,"  359. 
Dummer,  Mrs.  A.  C.,  197. 


E. 

Eliot,  W.  H.,  112. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  16-18,  50,  398. 
Eminett,  Thomas  Addis,  250,  251. 
Everett,    Edward,   23,     107-109, 

164,  166,  167. 
Everett,  William,  95. 


F. 

Farrer,  John,  23. 
Finn,  Henry  J.,  145. 
Folger,  William  C.,  185. 
Ford,  Governor,  383. 


G. 

Gaillard,  John,  216,  217. 
Gal  latin,  Albert,  260. 
Garcia,  301. 

Gardiner,  J.  S.  J.,  313-315. 
Gilbert,  Sidney,  387. 
Gillespie,  Miss  Anna,  201. 
Goforth,  Dr.,  379,  391. 


H. 

Hall,  David  P.,  97. 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  81. 
Hancock,  John,  94. 
Harnden,  William  F.,  344,  345. 
Hayne,  Robert  Young,  226. 
Hedge,  MissAbby,  176. 
Helen,  Miss  Mary,  68,  284. 
Helps,  Arthur,  367. 
Henry,  Patrick,  66. 
Henry,  Mrs.,  145. 
Henry,  Miss,  145. 
Hill,  Aaron,  185,  186. 
Hillhouse,  James  A.,  141. 


Hoffman,  Mrs.  David,  268. 
Holley,  Mrs.  Hamilton,  201. 
Huger,  Francis  K.,  113-126,  pas 
sim. 

Hughes,  Christopher,  299. 
Hull,  Isaac,  360. 


Incledon,  28. 


J. 


Jackson,  Andrew,  352-375,  pas 
sim. 

Jay,  John,  81. 
Jefferson,  Joseph,  204. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  242. 
Johnson,  Miss,  297. 
Johnston,  Josiah  Stoddard,  220. 


K. 

Kean,  Edmund,  30. 

Kent,  Edward,  19. 

King,  Charles,  260. 

Kirk  land,  John  Thornton,  21. 

Knapp,  John,  192,  19'. 


L. 

Lafayette,    Gen.    G.   M.,   55-57, 

101-156,  passim. 
Lafayette,  G.  W.,  111. 
Lincoln,  Levi,  127,  128,  174-187, 

passim. 
Livingston,  Miss  Cora,  269-273. 


M. 

Macduffie,  George,  283-285. 
Maffitt,  J.  N.,  305,  306. 
Marshall,  Miss  Emily,  334-337. 
Marshall,  Judge,  242-244. 


INDEX   OF  NAMES. 


403 


Mason,  John  Y.,  155. 
McCobb,  Mr.,  182. 
Mitchell,  Aaron,  182. 
Mitchell,  S.  L.,  140. 
Moniac,  92. 

N. 
Norton,  Rev.  Mr.,  304. 


O. 

Oliver,  Robert,  293. 

Otis,  George,  42. 

Otis,  H.  G.,  47,  316-321. 


P. 

Palfrey,  J.  G.,  110. 
Parker,  Daniel  P.,  363. 
Percival,  J.  G.,  335. 
Person,  William,  3-5. 
Peter,  Mrs.,  275,  276. 
Peters,  Judge,  325,  326. 
Phillips,  Judge,  2. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  366. 
Pickering,  Timothy,  324-327. 
Pierce,  Franklin,  375. 
Popkin,  John  S.,  33,  34. 
Potter,  Elisha  R.,  276,  279,  381, 
Powell,  Mrs.,  145. 
Prescott,  James,  46. 
Purdy,  Mr.,  97,  98. 
Putnam,  Colonel,  142. 


Q. 

Quincy,  Judge  Edmund,  81. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  [H.  U.  1728],  82. 
Quincy.  Josiah  [H.U.  1790],  245, 
361,  363. 


R. 

Randolph,    John,    98-100,    209- 
229. 


Randolph,  Tudor,  210. 

Reed,  James,  24. 

Reed,  William  G.,  4,  5. 

Richards,  Dr.,  384. 

Ryk,  Admiral,  157-173,  passim. 


Saxe- Weimar,  Duke  of,  157-173, 

passim. 

Sergeant,  John,  203. 
Smith,  B.,  93. 
Smith,  Hiram,  384. 
Smith,  Joseph,  376  -400. 
Snider,  Elder,  394. 
Stetson,  Caleb,  44. 
Stockton,  Robert  F.,  230-239. 
Storer,  Ebenezer,  64. 
Storer,  Mrs.,  53,  64,  65. 
Storrs,  Henry  R.,  286,  287. 
Story,  Joseph,  188-206,  366. 
Stuart,  General,  293. 
Stuart,  Gilbert,  82-85. 
Sullivan,  William,  322,  323. 


T. 

Thaxter,  Joseph,  132. 
Thorndike,  Colonel,  139. 
Tichenor,  Governor,  70. 
Ticknor,  George,  22,  116,  117. 
Troup,  Governor,  208. 
Tyler,  John,  397. 


U. 

Upham,  Charles  W,  16,  293. 


V. 

Van  Buren,    Martin,    353,    357, 

358,  371. 
Van  Rensselaer,  Catherine,  Miss, 

270. 
Van  Tromp,  107,  159. 


404 


INDEX    OF   NAMES. 


w. 

Wadsworth,  Daniel,  134. 
Wallenstein,  117. 
Walsh,  Robert,  300. 
Ware,  Henry,  107,  159. 
Warren,  Charles  H.,  176. 
Warren,  J.  C.,  359. 
Washington,  Bushrod,  244,  245. 
Webster,  Daniel,  46-48,  132,  136- 

139,  249,  250,  254-259,  265, 

266,  267,  281,  282. 


Wells,  E.  M.  P.,  5,  6. 
Wheaton,  Henry,  203      . 
White,  Mrs.  J.  M.,  268. 
Whitney,  George,  69. 
Whitney,  Peter,  61. 
Williamson,  Mrs.,  145. 
Wirt,  Mrs.  William,  268. 
Wirt,  Miss,  268. 
Withington,  William,  54. 
Worth,  William  J.,  69. 


University  Press  :  John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


Messrs.  ROBERTS  BROTHERS' 

LIST  OF 

Biographical  Publications. 

LATE   BIOGRAPHIES. 

THE  LIFE  OF  RICHARD  COBDEN.    By  John  Mor- 

ley.     i  vol.     8vo.     Cloth.     With  Steel  Portrait.     Price.    .   $3.00 

"  This  life  has  been  compared  to  Trevelyan's  '  Life  of  Macaulay.'  This  is.rathcr, 
we  assume,  as  an  illustration  of  its  expected  popularity  with  readers  than  on  any  other 
ground.  It  is  hardly  a  compliment  to  place  it  on  a  par  with  the  '  Life  of  Macaulay'  in 
other  respects.  It  is  an  abler  work  than  the  latter;  a  more  important  work;  a  more 
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most  important  era  of  English  politics  of  the  present  century,  and  it  is  a  record  of 
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"  Mr.  Symington  quotes  in  full  no  less  than  forty-seven  of  the  almost  matchless 
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